Delhi poll fallout: BJP allies in Maharashtra flex muscles

Say the party should take allies on board in decision-making

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)’s humiliating defeat in the Delhi Assembly election seems to have pleased the party’s ‘sidelined’ allies in Maharashtra. BJP allies in Maharashtra — Shiv Sena, Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana (SSS) and Republican Party of India (RPI) — are happy neither with the functioning of the 100-day-old state government nor with their Cabinet berths.

A Shiv Sena minister, who did not want to be named, told Business Standard: “The ruler should not neglect the pulse of the voter. Excessive announcements without any action on the ground do not go down well. It is a wake-up call for the BJP in Maharashtra and the party will have to take all its allies on board to mark its presence.”

Shiv Sena, which had joined the government after much flip-flop on December 5 last year, has openly expressed its displeasure over the allocation of non-lucrative and less-important ministries.

Besides, the party did not hide its anguish over not being given due importance during the setting up of various committees.

This apart, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray recently dared the BJP saying it should not take the Sena’s support to the state government for granted. “Just because we are in government doesn’t mean we have surrendered. The day we feel people’s interest and welfare are not being taken care of, the Shiv Sena will put its foot down,” Thackeray had said.

The Shiv Sena also expressed concern over the slow pace of implementation of relief and rehabilitation measures in the drought- and untimely rainfall-affected 25,000 villages in the state.

On the other hand, SSS, which has presence in the sugarcane-growing Sangli, Satara, Kolhapur and Pune districts, has hit out against the government for not taking enough action against sugar factories that have defaulted in paying fair and remunerative price to cane growers. Last month, some SSS activists allegedly damaged Sakhar Sankul (Sugar Commissionerate) to air their grievances.

Furthermore, SSS is also agitated for not nominating party leader Sadabhau Khot during the election to the Maharashtra Legislative Council held last month. An SSS leader said the party would shortly decide its future course of action.

RPI is angry for not giving ministerial berths both at the Centre and in the Maharashtra Cabinet. Republican Party of India President Ramdas Athavale, who was elected to the Rajya Sabha from the Bharatiya Janata Party quota last year, has been insisting he be inducted in the Narendra Modi-led government. However, there has been no response from the Bharatiya Janata Party. Besides, the RPI is furious for not being getting its leaders appointed on key government corporations.