How BJP pulled the rug from under Shiv Sena's feet

On Friday night newspapers went to press with Uddhav Thackeray who was the Shiv SenaNCPCongress alliances chief minister candidate on their front pagesOn Saturday morning TV channels opened their broadcasts with news that Devendra Fadnavis has been sworn in as chief minister with Ajit Pawar as his deputyCome Saturday night there were only two questions in the states political circles 1 How many MLAs does Ajit Pawar have 2 What will happen in the Supreme Court which will hear the triparty alliances challenge of the governors decision at 1130 am todayFor the first question BJP sources told midday that Ajit Pawar had the support of 28 NCP MLAs even as the breakaway NCP strongman himself remained unavailable for commentBoth sides had their own answers to the second question BJP sources said Ajit Pawar was the leader of NCPs legislative party at the time he met the governor with MLAs letters of support And while the NCP by Saturday evening gave these powers to Jayant Patil the sources said for all legal purposes Ajit Pawar remained NCPs legislative party leaderThe NCP camp was under the belief that it will be Patil who will be considered leader of the legislative party on the day of the floor testFurther late on Saturday NCP sources said they have prepared fresh letters of support for the Sena from 42 MLAs under its newly appointed legislative party leader Jayant Patil This they said will nullify the 54 letters Ajit Pawar stole on Saturday morningThe Sena and the Congress have also prepared the letters and everything will be part of the petition in the apex court where they will ask for a chance to form government and an immediate floor testSaturday SilliesThe hectic days drama came a month after the state voted back the BJPSena alliance to power and the latter broke away due to a dispute over the CMs post The overnight machinations of the BJP and the governors alacrity in swearing in Fadnavis shook the Sena Congress and NCP who decried Bhagat Singh Koshyaris decision and moved Supreme Court They also accused the BJP of blackmailing Ajit Pawar who has several corruption charges against himI would like to express my gratitude to NCPs Ajit Pawarji for taking the decision and coming together with BJP for a stable government in Maharashtra Fadnavis told news agency ANI Some other leaders also came with us and we staked claim to form the governmentState BJP president Chandrakant Patil said the Sena had disrespected the peoples mandate and tried underhand tactics to form government resulting in Saturdays developmentsBJP workers put up a poster of Devendra Fadnavis after his swearingin as chief minister early Saturday morningThe alliance got 161 seats but the Sena betrayed the mandate he said From Day 1 they started talking about alternatives Since they tried a lot of tricks we too went in for guerrilla tacticsThe day also witnessed much speculation about Sharad Pawars role and intentions Did he conspire with PM Narendra Modi to pull the rug from under the Senas feet while projecting Ajit Pawar as the bad apple Some BJP leaders thought so All this was decided in that meeting with Modi Mr Sharad Pawar is behind all this drama said a senior BJP leaderHowever an NCP leader told midday that Sharad Pawar had actually told Modi he shouldnt accept Ajit Pawars helping hand if it came to thatSharad Pawar dismissed both versions He said it was Ajit Pawars personal decision to support the BJP and threatened prospective defectors with action under the antidefection law and a sound drubbing in the bypollsAjits ArithmeticAs the day wore on NCP MLAs started trickling back to the mother ship at least for appearances sake By Saturday night almost all of the partys MLAs assembled before Sharad Pawar with just three remaining with Ajit Pawar Most of those who returned claimed that they were fooled by Ajit Pawar into going to Raj BhavanAnd as rumours started that nine NCP MLAs were to be flown to New Delhi Sena and NCP strongmen tracked them down and brought them to the NCP headquartersThe Sena locked up its flock in a city hotel and the Congress was set to take its bunch again to Jaipur All this indicates that the BJP will find it tough to show a majority on November 30 especially if Ajit Pawar is no longer able to wield authority as NCPs legislative party leaderWith the stick of disciplinary action hanging the NCP also extended a carrot to Ajit Pawar Senior leaders including cousin Supriya Sule urged him to withdraw from the new formation but he allegedly retorted by asking his uncle to join hands with the BJP if the NCP was to be savedLate night strikeEarlier on Friday night BJP executed what its leaders say was always its Plan B The party had been in touch with Ajit Pawar since the day results were announced sources said through common friends When Ajit Pawar disagreed with his uncle over the powersharing arrangement with the Sena the BJP had identified a weakness The party swung into action with Fadnavis approaching Raj Bhavan sometime after 930 pm on Friday to apprise the governor of his willingness and ability to form governmentAjit Pawar met the governor around midnight and gave him a letter that had the signatures of all 54 NCP legislators Sharad Pawar later alleged that this was unethical The governor took 30 minutes to recommend the lifting of Presidents rule which was approved at 547 amChief Secretary Ajoy Mehta who had planned a weekend holiday was alerted Meantime a smallscale ceremony was readied Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar were invited for swearing in at 6 am and administered oath by 810 amAnd then all hell broke looseCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and also a complete guide on Mumbai from food to things to do and events across the city here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates