How the BJP planned Ajit Pawar’s NCP split from March to undermine opposition unity: “This is a psychological warfare”

The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) broke on July 2, although it was a long-planned operation that had its origins in March. Several BJP insiders that News18 talked to all noted that conversations with Ajit Pawar had been a drawn-out project in process since even before March this year. The final permission came on June 29, according to sources, after meetings on June 4 and one in mid-June that was scheduled but never took place.

A CHRONOLOGY EXISTS.

According to a number of sources, Ajit Pawar-related covert negotiations took up sometime in March. There was a rumor that Ajit was privately speaking with Amit Shah around the middle of April. Shah arrived in Mumbai on April 15 in the evening, and politics in Maharashtra were rife with rumors of a meeting between the two. Ajit had to publicly refute such accusations the next day, on April 16, after being approached by his friends at the moment.

Pawar Junior said, “Where did I meet him (Amit Shah) and where? ” during a rally in Nagpur. This rumor (about my meeting Amit Shah) is completely unfounded. He even pleaded with the media “not to deceive the public by disseminating such news.” At that point, a number of NCP MLAs had contact with the BJP.

According to sources in the know, covert negotiations with Ajit Pawar reached a “desirable point” by the end of May, and Eknath Shinde, who had been kept informed the whole time, was officially called in to discuss expanding the Maharashtra cabinet. Shinde and Fadnavis were requested to go to Delhi on June 4 to meet Amit Shah. Shinde and Fadnavis abruptly left their respective towns of Pune and Nagpur and traveled to Delhi from there.

Shinde downplayed the meeting by claiming that the Marathwada grid project and the Konkan water problem were brought up. “We often visit Delhi. Development projects, the Marathwada water grid project, the Konkan water crisis, and farmers’ misery are just a few of the state’s challenges that were to be addressed, according to Shinde.

BJP has only just begun its last drive. On June 17, Shinde was due to go alone to Delhi for a second time, with Shah serving as his only appointment. The one-on-one conversation behind closed doors was postponed.

Then, on June 29, a day before Shinde’s first anniversary as chief minister of Maharashtra, there was the meeting. According to all available information, Shinde and Fadnavis traveled to Delhi for this meeting, which finished late that night. It was at this meeting that Shah gave them all the specifics.

ON JUNE 29, THE FINAL STAMP OF APPROVAL,

According to a BJP source who spoke to News 18, at the meeting on June 29 between Shah, Shinde, and Fadnavis, Shinde highlighted the rising discontent within the Shiv Sena over MPs who want to be included in the Union cabinet. Shinde was told to be patient. However, it was really the evening when the BJP officially gave the go-ahead for Ajit Pawar’s induction.

Under the condition of anonymity, a second Maharashtra-based BJP official informed News18, “It was requested to be kept under wraps. Even I was unaware that a decision would be made in its entirety on the 29th. Today, I chatted with Fadnavis. Shinde and Fadnavis were both instructed to limit their press interviews to discussing the election campaign.

According to sources, Shinde has been officially on board since the end of May about the NCP joining the Maharashtra administration.

With the support of 29 NCP heavyweights like Chhagan Bhujbal, Dilip Walse-Patil, Dhananjay Munde, and Praful Patel, Ajit Pawar gives the BJP-Sena administration in Maharashtra an air of invincibility.

The rebellion’s timing is particularly critical since it has destroyed the “Opposition in Unity,” forcing it to postpone its meeting immediately before the Monsoon Session of Parliament to July 17–18 in Bengaluru, where the Congress has invited all the parties who participated in the Patna session. Knowing Amit Bhai (Amit Shah), I wouldn’t be shocked if the timing of Ajit Pawar’s second uprising was specifically picked to coincide with the second opposition conference. You must realize that it shatters any notion of resistance to Narendra Modi before the Lok Sabha elections in 2024. If I may call it that, this is psychological warfare, the BJP general secretary stated.