100 days!
If it is Russia v/s Ukraine outside, the situation in Maharashtra is no different. It is a ‘political’ war here! The BJP, Central agencies and the MVA government of Maharashtra are literally at loggerheads and ready to finish one another. The political atmosphere is extremely volatile and ‘expect the unexpected’ seems to be the new mantra today in Maharashtra politics. Such an unstable atmosphere never existed before, says my father, Journalist Hemant Joshi, who has completed 42 years in Journalism in our state. Veteran Sharad Pawar too, has had his share of conflicts but never ever he too, created this ‘monster situation’ in our state tells me my father. Things happened then also, but Maharashtra’s image was never compromised and today, be it our Chief Minister himself or the Leader of Opposition, the Commissioner of Police or the politicians , the Ministers or the bureaucrats not to forget even the journalist’s, all are under some or other kind of scrutiny. If this is not a war kind of situation in Maharashtra, then what it is readers, please tell me!
Mind you, this is the last arsenal out of BJP’s armoury. It is a fight for survival. Yes, you read it right. If anyhow the MVA government fights these agencies and come clean out of it, it is curtains for the BJP for next 15 years at least in Maharashtra. Hence, the BJP isn’t leaving any stone unturned to topple this government and attacking anyone and everyone that is ‘dirty’. I am no one to comment on the use of machinery that is under direct control of the Centre, but yes, the state BJP people are surely doing the work of submitting the right paperwork at the right place.
Agencies be it CBI, ED or IT or sometimes both in combination are working in Maharashtra . Builders and Liasioner’s are interrogated round the clock. Raid on standing committee chairman of the BMC representing Shivsena, Yashwant Jadhav & his wife MLA Yamini Jadhav, has opened a Pandora’s box tell me insiders. Investments to the tune of crores which were parked all over India via shell companies are enough to initiate action against Jadhav. Have heard in a day or two even the ED will step in, and it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jadhav is in for more trouble. If the trouble of Parambir Singh, ex HM Anil Deshmukh, Sachin Vaze was not enough, cases of Nawab Malik and now Yashwant Jadhav and many more in the pipeline (as per the BJP), has surely put this MVA government in a lot of jeopardy.
But then why will this MVA government be quiet? If sources are to be believed the sudden transfer of CP Mumbai Hemant Nagrale and posting of Sanjay Pandey it seems a bigger strategy of the MVA is in place. By the way, 15 days ago it was a rumour in the IPS circles that Niket Kaushik would be the choice for the top post, but I guess he will have to wait for some more time. Now, has the new Mumbai CP Sanjay Pandey come with a single point agenda or more for the next 3 months ? If my calculation serves me right, state police will be used to disturb the ‘fighting’ Devendra Fadnavis, Kirit Somaiya, Mohit Kamboj Bhartiya, Nilesh/Nitesh Rane, Pravin Darekar, or even a Girish Mahajan. But will the new CP Sanjay Pandey take any such step without thinking? I don’t think so. He has already faced many hardships/side postings due to his straight forward nature. To take orders that are unconstitutional or biased or agenda driven, does not fit in Pandey’s dictionary. Why think negative? You never know, he might have come as a ‘gift posting’ too from the MVA government, after he was asked to leave the DGP post.
www.vikrantjoshi.com
More than the CP and the DGP, the burden of EOW will be increased now, if anything of that sort is planned by the MVA government. Already leaders of MVA have started demanding inquiry of LoP Devendra Fadnavis in the phone tapping case. Whereas, in the opposite camp, we will wait and watch if the likes of Sanjay Raut, Anil Parab, Ravindra Waikar, Uday Samant, Jitendra Awhad, Pratap Sarnaik are ‘disturbed’ or not.
But overall if anyone of the above leaders of any side get arrested, this ‘Gang-war’ will take an ugly turn. And mind you, all this is going to happen in the next 100 days, if it does! IT has already identified bureaucrats who are ‘not clean’. Don’t need to guess their names, those who understand politics here will know these IAS & IPS within a fraction of second. Surprisingly, the names of two Marathi journalists are also doing the rounds that are found in the diary during a recent raid. Names of these journalists are not out as of yet, but I am told one is from TV and the other from print media. Also, had heard about 5 journalists from Mumbai who were on a Dubai sojourn, it is said behind closed doors that it was a sponsored trip from one of the Neta’s who is behind the bars now.
Overall 3 months filled with adventure for journalists like us. Budget session is going to begin tomorrow. Will Nawab Malik’s resignation be taken by the MVA, will the Budget be fair to all, will the House function smoothly for the next 20 days and will we finally have a Speaker, only in the blog after the session concludes. But one thing is sure, tune in now! 100 days of mud slinging & backstabbing will be at its best, and yes, who cares if Maharashtra bleeds or runs dry!
Vikrant Hemant Joshi.
