Caught unawares as BJP's Devendra Fadnavis and NCP leader Ajit Pawar took oath as chief minister and deputy chief minister of Maharashtra, stunned Congress leaders said in their initial reaction that it was a case of backstabbing by Sharad Pawar's party.
The shocking events of the wee hours of November 23, just hours after a deal had almost been sealed between the Shiv Sena, the NCP and the Congress, with consensus emerging that Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray should be the chief minister, brought to the fore the worst fears of the Congress as it had hesitantly entered the alliance discussions.
The Congress always had a trust deficit concerning the political moves of the wily Pawar senior who had first approached party chief Sonia Gandhi with the concept of forming a government with the Sena. While the party leadership was not comfortable with the idea of joining hands with the Sena, which was ideologically poles apart, it was also unsure of Pawar's motives.
It is learnt that the Congress high command was upset with Pawar for having met Prime Minister Narendra Modi even as he was involved in talks to prop up a Sena-NCP-Congress government. The Pawar-Modi meeting, which was supposedly held to discuss farmers' issues, had come amidst buzz that the BJP had reached out to the NCP in an attempt to try and form a government with help from the Pawar's party.
However, as the NCP supremo came out with his clarification that his nephew Ajit had split away, and the developments did not have his consent, the Congress targeted the BJP for misusing its political heft to illegally form government in Maharashtra, saying it had done the same in other states too. But party leaders raised eyebrows by staying away from the joint press conference addressed by Sharad Pawar and Thackeray. Senior leaders, including Ahmed Patel and AICC in-charge of Maharashtra Mallikarjun Kharge, attended a meeting with the Sena and NCP that preceded the presser but were not present at the interaction with media.
“Early morning, without any 'band, baaja, baarat', chief minister and deputy chief minister were sworn in. This event will be recorded in black ink in the country's history,” said Ahmed Patel, who was involved in the alliance talks with the NCP and the Shiv Sena as his party president Sonia Gandhi's interlocutor.
“Constitutional principles were violated. They have crossed all limits of shamelessness,” he said. He stressed that the Sena, NCP and the Congress will have a joint strategy for the confidence motion in the state Assembly and will defeat the BJP.
Senior Congress leader Digvijaya Singh said, “This is making a mockery of the Constitution. The BJP did the same in Goa, Meghalaya and other states. No MLA of the NCP will support this. Ajit Pawar has gone with them alone.”
In a tweet, AICC's communications department head Randeep Surjewala questioned the legality of Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar getting sworn in as chief minister and deputy chief minister, remarking that it is now proved that the BJP is out to destroy democracy and the Governor had once again turned out to be a 'hitman' of Union Home Minister Amit Shah. “When was President's rule revoked? Overnight, when was the claim to form government submitted? When was the list of supporting MLAs given? When did the MLAs present themselves before the Governor? Why was the swearing-in conducted like thieves?” he asked.
A section of the Congress though feel that the discussions amongst the disparate allies took way too long, and this provided the rivals with an opportunity to make their moves. The state leaders of the party had anyways been getting restive as the prolonged talks went on and had expressed apprehension that this could give the BJP a chance to carry out its political manoeuvres in the state.
However, Patel responded to the criticism that the Congress delayed matters in the alliance talks, saying he and other Congress leaders arrived in Mumbai for discussions the very next day after Thackeray reached out to Sonia.