Rivalry between CM Devendra Fadnavis, minister to be laid bare soon

The political rivalry between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and a minister from his Cabinet is likely to come out in the open during impending legislative council elections. According to a BJP insider, CM-backed independent (rebel) candidate, Manoj Kotak, is likely to withdraw his nomination with a view to defeating R.N. Singh, termed an “outsider” by party workers. Mr Singh is the owner of Bombay Intelligence Security Agency which has more than 6 lakh employees and that of Hindi daily, Hamara Mahanagar. He was originally with Congress but joined BJP a day after his name was announced as candidate for the MLC elections.

BJP has fielded six official candidates for the polls, and Mr Kotak has filed his name independently. BJP has the strength to get elected only five candidates without seeking help from its allies. “The CM’s rival was very much aware of the candidates for MLC elections 15 days before May 30, the day when BJP’s core committee held a meeting to finalise nominations,” said a source.

Recalling a discussion with the minister, the source said that the minister told them that Sujitsingh Thakur, Sadabhau Khot, Vinayak Mete and Pravin Darekar would be party candidates for MLC polls. “When we asked about the fifth candidate, the minister said it would be a surprise but never Madhav Bhandari. The minister was sidelined by the chief minister long back when he came to know the former’s working style of not sitting in Mantralaya but holding meetings with people from the construction industry somewhere in the suburbs instead,” claimed the source. Apparently, the minister, who shares good relations with BJP national president, Amit Shah, leveraged his influence and approved Mr Singh’s name at the eleventh hour.

The source said the CM was shocked with Mr Singh being nominated and asked Prasad Lad to file a dummy nomination for the elections. “The CM also asked Mr Kotak to file nomination as an independent candidate,” he added. The political strategy to defeat Mr Singh in the coming election was by diverting surplus votes to Mr Lad, so that he could win the election. “The CM, who is a close confidante of PM Narendra Modi, can expose the minister and his political game to the PM and Mr Shah,” said the source.

However, with politics being a game of uncertainty and the CM meeting Mr Shah in the evening, the source was quick to add that he could not say anything about the discussion between the leaders.

Incidentally, Friday is the last day to withdraw nomination.