Expressing doubts yet again about the stability of the BJP-Shiv Sena Government in Maharashtra, NCP chief Sharad Pawar on Monday predicted that the ruling saffron alliance partners would part ways ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls scheduled for February 2017.
On a day when the Shiv Sena advised Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, a Vidarbhite himself, to act against those crusading for a separate Vidarbha State, Pawar said, “I have been told by a senior leader in the BJP-led Government that there would be a break in the saffron alliance ahead of the BMC polls”.
Talking to mediapersons at Aurangabad, Pawar said, “I have definite information about the impending split in the saffron alliance. The alliance will break in the run-up to the BMC”, Pawar, however, declined the name the ruling coalition leader who had given him information about the impending split in the saffron alliance.
It may be recalled that the Sharad Pawar-led NCP had offered outside support to the BJP before the Sena came on board and joined the Devendra Fadnavis-led Government last year. Meanwhile, debunking the revived clamour for a separate Vidarbha State, the Sena stated in an editorial published in its official mouth-piece ‘Saamana’, “At a time when we have a Chief Minister in Maharashtra (Fadanavis) who comes from Vidarbha, we have seen protests in several of parts of Vidarbha region on the Maharashtra day. At a time when Fadnavis is hoisting the united Maharashtra flag, we have seen an unpleasant situation of people hoisting Vidarbha flag in eleven districts of the eastern Maharashtra”.
The Sena stated that it was matter of concern that the flag hoisting ceremonies for a separate State were held in the State-funded schools and colleges in 11 districts of Vidarbha. “The Chief Minister should take cognisance of this development in Vidarbha and warn those clamouring for Vidarbha that the State Government would not tolerate this kind of behaviour from the votaries of a separate on a Maharashtra day,” the Saamana editorial stated, as it urged the Chief Minister to investigate as who was behind the revived Vidarbha clamour on Maharashtra day.
Seeking to link the happening in Vidabha to the acts of separatists in Jammu & Kashmir, the Sena stated, “Separatists in Jammu & Kashmir observe Independence Day as a black day and raise pro-Pakistani slogans. When we call those separatists as anti-nationalists, the votaries of Vidarbha deserve to be called as anti-Maharashtra”. The Sena’s advice to Fadnavis should be seen in the light of the fact that he himself was crusading for a separate Vidarbha State when the BJP was in the Opposition in the State. The BJP, which had in the past rooted for a separate Vidarbha State, has kept the issue on backburner ever since it came to power in November last year.