Ahead of the Supreme Court’s verdict on ‘Sena versus Sena’, speculation over fresh political alignments in Maharashtra gathers pace Premium

The buzz of a second ‘political earthquake’ in Maharashtra in less than a year (after Mr. Shinde’s coup in June 2022) was amplified when the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) took contrarian stands on certain issues

With the Supreme Court’s decision on the disqualification petition of 16 rebel Shiv Sena MLAs belonging to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction expected in the coming days, speculation is rife over fresh political alignments in the State.

The buzz of a second ‘political earthquake’ in Maharashtra in less than a year (after Mr. Shinde’s coup in June 2022) was amplified when the Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) took contrarian stands on certain issues with other parties in the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, which also comprises of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the Congress.

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The NCP’s previous history of intrigue with the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the startling early morning swearing-in of Ajit Pawar as Deputy Chief Minister alongside the BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister in 2019 has given cause for anxiety among the NCP’s allies, the Congress and the Sena (UBT).

This was fuelled after reports that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) had allegedly dropped the names of Mr. Ajit Pawar and his wife Sunetra from the charge-sheet filed in the 2019 Maharashtra State Cooperative (MSC) Bank money laundering case.  Mr. Ajit Pawar, the former deputy CM, was one of the prominent and influential members of the Board of Directors of MSC Bank at the time. 

However, Mr. Ajit Pawar has categorically denied he had received any “clean chit” in the case. “The probe is still on in the case. I want to clearly state that we have got no clean chit as yet. I do not know how these reports have surfaced,” he said.

Mr. Ajit Pawar further dismissed suggestions that he would join the BJP in the event that the Supreme Court disqualified rebel Shiv Sena MLAs as “baseless” and “having no truth whatsoever”.