How BJP’s top guns got outfoxed in Maharashtra

New Delhi: The collapse of its government and its failure to face a trust vote in Maharashtra led to a major embarrassment for the so-called saffron “chanakyas” on Tuesday. Two developments went against the gameplan of the BJP’s strategists, who only a few days back tried to pull off a grand post-midnight coup: Tuesday’s Supreme Court ruling and “overestimating” Ajit Pawar’s ability to swing NCP MLAs in the BJP’s favour.

The party is also paying the price for the leadership’s decision to “overrule objections” of a top Union minister close to the RSS to try force a government in the state. The minister, who was involved in holding parleys at a later stage, apparently did so “only at the behest of the RSS”. A senior BJP leader close to the minister revealed that when the BJP “began hatching the great game to form a government” in Maharashtra, the Union minister had “cautioned against the move” and made it clear that “Ajit Pawar was no match for Sharad Pawar”.

Meanwhile, in New Delhi, as the BJP’s house of cards in Maharashtra began to crumble, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and working president J.P. Nadda held a meeting at the PM’s Parliament office. As the die was cast after the Supreme Court order, the BJP top brass asked chief minister Devendra Fadnavis to step down. Sources said after Ajit Pawar, who had taken the oath as deputy chief minister on Saturday, failed to attend an official meeting with Mr Fadnavis on Monday, the BJP got an inkling that NCP supremo Sharad Pawar might have managed to win over his nephew. Also, after a majority of NCP MLAs rallied around its chief

Sharad Pawar, the BJP top brass realised that Ajit Pawar would not be able to get the required numbers of party MLAs to support him. The BJP had to face flak for joining hands with Ajit Pawar, even from its own supporters on the social media, as it was the earlier Fadnavis government which had launched probes into Ajit Pawar’s alleged corruption when he was the deputy CM in the 2009-14 Congress-NCP government, and often attacked him over the issue.

When asked why Mr Fadnavis had to resign and whether or not the BJP had considered this situation while relying on Ajit Pawar, a senior BJP leader said “the situation had become such that this decision had to be taken”. This leader, however, also said the BJP “has not given up” in Maharashtra and asserted that “things will be good” for the party in the coming days, apparently indicating the BJP hopes for a repeat of Karnataka, where its stalwart B.S. Yeddiyurappa took the oath as the CM, then quit as he failed to prove his majority, paving the way for the JD(S)-Congress government, which could not last for two years due to internal turmoil. Mr Yeddiyurappa could then become the CM once again.