Leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly Vijay Wadettiwar of the Congress set the cat among pigeons by claiming that as many as 40 MLAs of the ruling MahaYuti would cross over to the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) within a month, ahead of the State Assembly polls to be held in October this year.
Amid speculation about a possible State Cabinet expansion and other “damage-control” measures planned by chief minister Eknath Shinde to arrest brewing resentment within the ruling MahaYuti ranks, Waddetiwar said that MLAs belonging to Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and NCP ( Ajit Pawr) were preparing to make a “ghar-wapasi” within a month so.
Talking to media persons, Wadettiwar said: “After the recent Lok Sabha elections, many of the ruling MahaYuti MLAs are in touch with us. They want to come back to their parent parties ahead of the State Assembly polls to be held later this year”.
One of the reasons being cited for many of the ruling MahaYuti wanting to cross over to the ruling MVA is the superlative performance put by the three Opposition alliance constituents – Congress, NCP (S)) and Shiv Sena).
Given that the Opposition MVA has established leads in more than 150 out of the total 288 Assembly segments in terms of the votes polled in their favour in the 2024 Lok Sabha election, many of the MahaYuti MLAs fear that they might lose the State Assembly polls if they were contest as the MahaYuti in the State Assembly polls.
However, the ruling MahaYuti leaders dismiss the claim by Wadettiwar as part of the mind games being played by the Opposition leaders to create confusion among their MLAs and that there was no truth in it. Wadettiwar’s claim comes on the heels of a claim made by Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena MP Naresh Mhaske that two Opposition Sena (UBT) MP were “in touch” with his party leadership and that they might switch sides to the ruling MahaYuti along with a few more MPs and support the new NDA government at the Centre. However, the Shiv Sena (UBT) swiftly denied Mhaske’s claim.
Meanwhile, informed sources in the ruling MahaYuti said that chief minister Shinde was planning to go in for a cabinet expansion, appointment of heads of the state-run corporations and filling up of 12 vacancies in the State Legislative Council to eliminate brewing resentment within the ruling ranks.
The sources said that chief minister Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP and Ajit Pawar of the NCP had initiated talks among themselves in this regard.
Shinde and Fadnavis were sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, respectively, on June 30, 2022.
Currently, there are 29 ministers – including the chief minister and two deputy chief ministers, 14 short of the stipulated 43 ministers -- a number that accounts for 15 percent of 288 members in the State Assembly.
In essence, the CM can accommodate 14 more ministers in his Cabinet. Shinde may go in for an expansion of his cabinet ahead of the monsoon session of the State Legislature scheduled to begin from the last week of June.
As part of the “damage-control” exercise, the state government might also recommend names of 12 persons to Maharashtra Governor Ramesh Bais to fill that many vacancies in the State Legislature.
