Mumbai: The Shiv Sena’s announcement on Tuesday to go solo in polls has worsened the already tense relations with the BJP and between ministers from both the parties.
With the budget session approaching, the BJP will have to find a way to ensure that the State budget passes successfully on the floor of the House. With the Sena up in arms, the failure to pass the budget will bring down the government.
While Sena ministers have claimed that Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis never considered them while taking decisions, the BJP accused the Sena of keeping quiet during cabinet discussions.
Sena’s Divakar Raote and Ramdas Kadam have walked out of the Cabinet over disagreements on farm loan waiver and Maratha Kranti Morcha, but only to be reconciled by the CM later.
Infrastructure projects such as underground Metro line, compensation to farmers in the Mumbai-Nagpur Samriddhi corridor, and land acquisition in Konkan for the western coast refinery project have suffered due to disagreements between the parties.
While Mr. Fadnavis claimed that his government will complete the term, sources within the BJP said that the real test of the Sena’s intentions will be in the budget session. “If they really want to take action, we will witness it soon,” said a senior BJP minister.
But according to bureaucrats, the Sena’s announcement may not have immediate impact on the functioning of the Cabinet or the administration until 2019. Most major projects are on course for completion by 2022, while not many approvals are pending. So there is little chance that the friction between the alliance partners will reflect in the administrative functioning, they said.
However, the Opposition has warned that the friction will lead to interference in the department functioning. If the Sena is serious about improvements in the administrative functioning, it should immediately withdraw support, Opposition leaders said.
“They will start interfering in each others’ department and involve more in a game of one-upmanship. Instead of working for the people, efforts will now be more to strengthen their own departments,” said NCP leader Nawab Malik.
