A day after his party’s ruling ally NCP withdrew its support to the Congress-led DF dispensation reducing it to “minority” Government, Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Friday resigned from his post, in an apparent effort to disarm the Opposition BJP of an issue and pre-empt the possibility of President’s rule in the State in the run-up to the State Assembly polls.
Chavan sent off his resignation to Maharashtra Governor Ch Vidyasagar Rao in the evening, hours after the leader of the Opposition in the State Assembly Eknath Khadse of the BJP met the Governor and demanded the imposition of President’s rule in the State in view of the fact that the DF dispensation "has been reduced to a minority Government" after the NCP’s withdrawal of support to the Chavan administration.
In an official released issued late in the night, the Chief Minister’s Secretariat stated: “After the withdrawal of support to the Democratic Alliance Government by the Nationalist Congress Party on Thursday, Chavan on Friday met the Governor at Raj Bhavan. After that he tendered his resignation as Chief Minister”.
Informed in Raj Bhavan said that the Governor was holding consultations with the legal experts on whether he should recommend President’s rule or ask Chavan to continue as a care-taker CM for a brief period of three weeks.
Though the BJP — which is at the helm of affairs at the Centre — is clamouring for President’s rule in Maharashtra in the run-up to the Assembly polls, it remains to be seen if the Governor will make such a recommendation to the Centre or ask the outgoing CM to continue in the caretaker head of the Government.
Chavan — who had met the Governor earlier on Friday and discussed the situation arising out of the NCP’s move on Thursday night to withdraw its support to the DF Government in the wake of its decision to snap electoral ties with the Congress and the meeting — put in his papers, soon after the BJP made “minority status” of the his Government an issue.
That the political atmosphere in the State capital was charged up on Friday, a day after the sensational split of the ruling Shiv Sena-BJP and Congress-NCP alliances, could be evidenced from the fact that the Shiv Sena launched a frontal attack against its former saffron ally, BJP, by dubbing it an “enemy of Maharashtra”, thus harping on its original pro-Marathi plank for the forthcoming State Assembly polls.
In an editorial published in its official mouth-piece Saamana, the Sena stated: "Our other (Mahayuti) alliance parties wanted the Sena-BJP association to continue. More than that, it was what the 11 crore people of Maharashtra wanted. Those who trampled these sentiments are enemies of Maharashtra..This (breaking of alliance) is an insult to the 105 Marathi martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.”
The Saamana editorial described as "unfortunate" the end of a long-surviving alliance between the two ideologically compatible pro-Hindutva parties.Reacting to the Sena’s charge of his being the “enemies of Maharashtra", BJP’s in-charge for party affairs in Maharashtra said that the comment was “unfortunate” “Such comments made by the Sena, a day after the alliance breaks are very disappointing and uncalled for. It is desirable that they would refrain from making such unfortunate comments about us," Rudy said.
Rudy said the Sena should not expect the BJP to be part of the "betrayal" of its smaller alliance partners."They (the Sena) possibly had the Chief Ministership in mind and hence the formula which they proposed to us would have resulted in complete elimination of our smaller alliances. That would have been a bigger betrayal of our alliance and the Shiv Sena could not have expected us to be a part of the betrayal arrangement," he said,
“The harsh words by the Sena would not serve the cause -- of eliminating the "corrupt" Congress and NCP from the state – that the saffron alliance partners stood for,” Rudy added. Rudy also ruled the possibility of the BJP entering into a tie-up with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP after the October 15 State Assembly elections.
"The question doesn't arise.. Why should there be a future allianceIJ I can tell you with certainty that we are going it alone. They (Congress and NCP) are going to be non-existent in the state after elections," Rudy said.
In a related development, State BJP president Devendra Fadnavis also denied an allegation made by both the Shiv Sena and BJP that his party had some understanding with the NCP. “How can there be a tacit understanding between the BJP and NCP. In fact, we have been both exposing and fighting corruption indulged by the NCP leaders,” Fadnavis said.