‘Badlapur’ 2023: How Fadnavis’s 2019 stumbling inspired him to use Ajit ‘Doosra’ to avenge Senior Pawar’s ‘Googly’

Devendra Fadnavis has reemerged as Maharashtra politics’ “Chanakya,” countering Sharad Pawar’s “googly” for 2019 with his “doosra.”

Ajit Pawar, the deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, has shown to his party, the BJP, that he can produce results when the leadership has trust in him by being included in the state administration.

A recent assessment of the state, according to a source, showed a “not so favorable” posture for the BJP in elections since MVA had an advantage. It was Fadnavis who volunteered to handle the matter, and he succeeded by luring Ajit Pawar and other Sharad Pawar-loyalists away. With this maneuver, Fadnavis demonstrated why he is known as the “Chanakya” of Maharashtra politics in addition to settling scores with Sharad Pawar.

Ajit Pawar, who was sworn in as the deputy chief minister, helped Fadnavis establish the government in 2019, but the administration could only survive a few days before it was overthrown. Political observers claim that as a result of the disaster, Fadnavis lost the respect of the BJP’s central leadership and made the decision to raise his profile inside the organization.

Therefore, he attempted to corner the MVA administration in his capacity as leader of the opposition, both within the legislature and outside. Additionally, the BJP was unable to disregard Fadnavis’ crucial contribution to Eknath Shinde’s coup. Fadnavis, who had never shown interest in holding any position in the Shinde administration, was invited to serve as his deputy even though his true goal was to advise the government from outside. The top BJP leader eventually agreed with the party position despite his objections.

The BJP realized that, in light of the Shiv Sena split, it would be challenging to win the most seats in Maharashtra at the 2024 Lok Sabha elections owing to the sympathy wave that would favor the Uddhav Thackeray camp. Only the Thane and Palghar districts, which are his strongholds, benefit from Shinde’s charm.

In order to defeat the MVA and gain seats from Western Maharashtra and the Marathwada area, the BJP felt the need for a formidable face. Following the embarrassing 2019 incident, Fadnavis made the decision to contact Ajit Pawar once again, and this time, the stars were on his side. In the Shinde-Fadnavis sarkar, Ajit Pawar rose up against his uncle and on Sunday took the oath of office as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister.

MVA leaders often criticised Ajit Pawar of failing to take a strong stance against the present Maharashtra administration. He recently expressed his desire to resign from the position of LoP and requested that the party offer him a higher role within the organization.

But now that all is clear, it is understandable why Junior Pawar was lenient with the Shinde-Fadnavis team. Recently, when discussing the irrigation scandal, Prime Minister Narendra Modi singled out Supriya Sule, the daughter of Sharad Pawar, and accused NCP of being corrupt. Surprisingly, the prime minister said nothing negative about Ajit Pawar in his address, despite the fact that the BJP had used the scandal as a campaign issue during the 2014 state elections.

Ajit Pawar, along with his MLAs and MPs, are prepared to back the state administration, Fadnavis informed the Union home minister during a late-night discussion between Shinde, Amit Shah, and Fadnavis on June 29. Ajit Pawar became Maharashtra’s second deputy chief minister within 48 hours after receiving the go-ahead from Shah.