Union Home Minister Amit Shah. (File)Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who arrived in Mumbai late Sunday evening, will visit the Lalbaugcha Raja, one of the city’s most famous Ganesh mandals in Lower Parel, on Monday morning. Packed into Shah’s hectic itinerary during his whirlwind visit to the city is a meeting with state BJP leaders at Sagar Bungalow, the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, on Monday morning.
The Union home minister, whose visit is partly political and partly to get a feel of the city’s festive ambience, will go on a Ganesh darshan at some prominent locations while also inaugurating a school in Mumbai.
After visiting the Lalbaughcha Raja, Shah will arrive at the Bandra Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal at BJP MLA and the party’s Mumbai president Ashish Shelar’s constituency in Bandra West.
However, the most striking aspect of his Mumbai trip will be a visit to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s Malabar Hills residence, Varsha. It will be the first such meeting between Shah and the chief of the rebel Shiv Sena faction since ‘Operation Lotus’, which saw Shinde engineer a coup in the Sena allegedly with support of the BJP at the Centre and state, eventually resulting in the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
In a twist that few saw coming post the tumultuous political events which led to the demise of the MVA, the BJP’s central leadership gave the coveted chief minister’s post to Shinde. Many read the move as a reward to Shinde for breaking up the Sena and weakening Uddhav Thackeray’s hold on the party. With 40 of Sena’s 55 MLAs on his side, Shinde reduced the strength of the Uddhav faction to just 15 MLAs.
He even engineered a split in the parliamentary party by wearing away 12 out of 18 Sena MPs.
Shah’s personal visit to Shinde’s residence is meant to subtly convey a message to rivals that the political partnership between the BJP and the rebel Sena faction is here to stay.During his meeting with the CM, Shah is likely to reiterate BJPs unconditional support to the Shinde Sena, thus laying the groundwork for the two parties to contest all future elections — to the BMC, Thane Municipal Corporation and 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections — together. Speaking to mediapersons earlier, Fadnavis sought to downplay the political intent or motive behind Shah’s visit, saying, “Every year, Amit Shah ji visits Mumbai during the Ganesh festival. He also visits Lalbaughcha Raja. Let’s not forget that Mumbai is his birthplace.” “Amit Shah will arrive in Mumbai and visit Lalbaughcha Raja. He will visit the Bandra West Ganeshotsav Mandal in Ashish Shelar’s constituency. He will also visit the CM’s residence and mine,” Fadnavis added.
“He will meet and interact with state BJP leaders. There is nothing beyond this,”the former CM said, keeping many guessing if Shah also has a meeting lined up with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena resident Raj Thackeray.