'Maharashtra Local Body Polls Fight Between Party Workers, Won't Have Any Impact On Alliance': Devendra Fadnavis Downplays Mahayuti Cracks

New Delhi: As the Maharashtra local body polls are slated to be held on January 15, political pundits are looking closely at the apparent cracks within the ruling Mahayuti, especially since all parties within the ruling coalition have entered into unique formulations at the local level, even to the extent of joining hands with its rival Congress. In this context, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said in an exclusive conversation with Republic that there is no friction between the alliance partners and it is only an election contested by local party workers. 

In an interview with Republic Media Network Editor-in-Chief Arnab Goswami, the Chief Minister explained that it was not possible for every party to forbid their workers from contesting these elections and hence it was thought that it would be more practical to put up friendly contests in places where alliance formation could not be done.

‘Will Be Wrong To Ask Party Workers Not To Contest’

“This is an election for the party workers. In the Vidhan Sabha and Lok Sabha, those are elections for the leaders. Since it is an election for party workers, we decided that if he form alliance in every area…Let us take the example of Poona, in Poona Ajit Pawar and our party are the key players. Our party is number 1 there followed by Ajit Pawar. So if we have to give those areas to him, it will be wrong for our workers, Ajit Pawar's workers and Shinde's workers. So we have decided that in places where we can form natural alliances, like in Thane, Kalyan and Dombivli, we would go for it. Where we cannot for alliance, we will put up a friendly fight,” Fadnavis said.

Fadnavis, however, pointed out that the only aberration to this strategy of the ruling coalition was in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, where NCP Chief Ajit Pawar joined hands with his uncle, Sharad Pawar, who head the NCP(SP), which is party from the rival alliance, Maha Vikas Aghadi.

“In the 280 Nagar Palika elections, we followed this strategy. There was only one aberration, that is in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad, where Ajit Pawar's party joined hands with Sharad Pawar's party. We had earlier decided that the three parties would tie up with each other wherever possible or fight individually,” the Chief Minister said.

BJP Tying Up With Congress

Responding to a question about a tactical alliance with its prime rival, Congress, in Ambernath, an eastern suburban city in Thane district, where a local formation, Ambernath Vikas Aghdai, has been formed between the two parties, Fadnavis said that it is “not acceptable” and was not in the know.

“This should not have happened. Whatever information I have, we were going to form an alliance with Rashtravadi party, as well as with Shiv Sena, because BJP and Shiv Sena are number 1 and number 2 parties there, both our workers have won election over there. But if the local leaders have formed an alliance with the Congress, it is wrong. I will question that. It is not acceptable,” he said.

“These are small places where decisions take place at the local level without me knowing. Every decision taken does not come up to me,” Fadnavis further explained, adding that, "At times, there is so much rivalry between the workers of our allied partners, that they tie up with the rival party so that the other one cannot win. However this should not happen.

‘Conflicting Interests’ With Eknath Shinde

Speaking on the recent run-ins with his alliance partner and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Fadnavis dismissed all rumours of cracks withing the ruling coalition, saying that "conflicting interests" are only natural since both of them are leaders in their own respective parties. 

“There is no cold war or a hot war. We are together. From the last 10-11 years we were together and have been taking decisions together. Even when he was on the other side, we were in good relation with one another. And it is the same today as well. But he also runs a party. If he as well as I run our own parties, it is natural that there would be conflicting interests,” Fadnavis said.

Explaining why it is important for both the leaders to take positions different from each other at times, the Chief Minister said, “This is because if we decide to keep out parties alive, it is important to keep our individual cadres alive. There is usually not much understanding between our cadre, though we have made significant adjustments.”

Giving an example of a seat sharing adjustments both parties had to agree ahead of the local body polls, Fadnavis said, “In Kalyan Dombivili, we are a significant party. Last time, they got more numbers. But in the last 5-10 years he have become a large party there. We should have got more seats there, if we judge by the present survery, but since they won more seats last time, we gave them more seats.”

Similarly, the Chief Minister gave the example of Jalgaon, where the BJP was generous and gave a sizeable number of seats to the Shiv Sena despite being the largest party in the region.

“Even in Jalgaon, we were the single largest party last time having won 57 seats, but we had to form an alliance there. So we made out people understand that instead of 57 we took 47 seats to contest, though we can win in 40-45 seats and get a majority,” he explained, adding that the two allies settled for compromises in several places but “could not do that in other places.”

Leaving Out Ajit Pawar In Mumbai

In response to keeping its other Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, with whom the BJP has not formed an alliance in the Mumbai civic body polls, Fadnavis dropped a bombshell, saying that the Nationalist Congress Party does not command any sizeable presence in Mumbai and hence his party and the Shiv Sena were not left with any seats to offer to Pawar.

“We had objected to Nawab Malik leading their party. But other than that, as far as Mumbai is concerned, even when the NCP was united, it did not have much significance. Only 7-8 used to win. Since Shinde and we are contesting in Mumbai together this time, we had no seat left to offer them. One can only offer seats to a party that is significant. Ajit Pawar has no presence in Mumbai,” Fadnavis explained his position.

Two Generations Fighting Local Polls 

The Chief Minister also explained that one of the reason why the local party cadres have engaged in so much rivalry with other parties, despite being in alliance in the state government, is that the elections are being held after a long time, giving rise to two generations of party workers who are ready to fight the polls, leaving very little space for party bosses to ask their workers, not to fight this time.

“The election is being held after 10 years. Two generations across all parties are fighting. So in such a time, if you ask your party workers not to contest elections, it wont be beneficial for the party. You can instruct some of them, but not all. In every election, one generation readies for election. Since two generations are fighting now, it was a problem for every party,” Fadnavis said.

The election for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation will be held in January 15. The outcomes of these polls would be interesting to watch as it is the first local body polls being held after both the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party, two of the most formidable regional players in Maharashtra split and joined rival factions, one with the BJP in the government, and the other, in the Opposition. The Thackeray cousins, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, have also come together to give a combined fight in these polls, after a decade of parting ways with one another.

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