How Maharashtra's Devendra Fadnavis & Vinod Tawde crippled INDIA alliance even before the battle

While most of the focus about the developments in Bihar is on Nitish Kumarrsquos capricious nature the Bharatiya Janata Party BJP incharge of the state Vinod Tawdersquos role has gone under the radarCoupled with Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavisrsquos apparent engineering of a split in the Nationalist Congress Party NCP six months ago the two moves have derailed the dreams of the opposition blocrsquos ambition of putting up a strong and united fight against the BJP in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in two big states which send a combined 88 members to ParliamentWhile party General Secretary Tawde is credited for getting Nitish Kumar back to the NDA camp Fadnavis successfully engineered a split in Sharad Pawarrsquos NCP by taking Ajit Pawar on board in the Eknath ShindeBJP led Maharashtra government in June 2023Amit Shah and Devendra Fadnavis in 2022 PicX right An undated picture of Nitish Kumar and Tejashwi Yadav PicXParty insiders tell midday both splits were overseen by Home Minister Amit Shah and assigned to the two Maharashtra leaders for executionMission 400For this yearrsquos general election the BJP has set a target of lsquoAb Ki Baar 400 paarrsquo 400 seats in the 543member HouseBy mid2023 the opposition parties had come together under the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance INDIA The blocrsquos aim was to avoid a split of regional party votes and put up a unified front against the BJPVinod TawdeThis alliance in its mere idea threatened BJPrsquos Mission 400 target especially after Kumar dumped the BJP last year and joined INDIArsquos Rashtriya Janata Dal to form government in BiharThe Ram Temple inauguration gave the BJP the confidence of doing well in Uttar Pradeshrsquos 80 seats things were not looking good in Maharashtra 48 seats and Bihar 40 seatsBJP vs United OppositionWhile Kumarrsquos Janata DalUnited Lalu Prasadrsquos Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress united in Bihar closer home saw the coming together of Sharad Pawarrsquos NCP Uddhavrsquos faction of the Shiv Sena and the CongressA senior BJP functionary speaking to midday on condition of anonymity admitted as much ldquoThe aim of 400 seats was indeed good to boost the morale of the cadre But it looked increasingly difficult especially after the formation of INDIA A straight fight between BJP and INDIA candidates would have certainly made things difficult for us in many constituencies The only advantage we had was that the INDIA bloc has no PM candidate to match ModijirdquoVeterans go to workNonetheless the BJP was not going to be passive at this point Tawde and Fadnavis two veterans from Maharashtra were put to work and have now decidedly turned the tables on the INDIA bloc by weakening the grand alliance in Maharashtra and BiharTawde was sent to work in Bihar in 2022 Within just a year Kumar had dumped the BJP and joined hands with the RJD The former Maharashtra minister had to start working towards getting Kumar back in the NDA campCapitalising on fissionsAs a damagecontrol exercise and making the BJP selfreliant in the state Tawde started work on balancing the partyrsquos caste equation The BJP started focusing on leaders with strong clout in areas dominated by Kurmi Bumihar and Koeri communitiesAs the party was trying to enhance its vote bank through caste equations rumours emerged about Kumar being upset with the grand alliance when Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge was presented as a prime ministerial candidateThe BJP sensed an opportunity to make a dent in the INDIA alliance and Tawde reached out to Kumar Leaders who got in touch with Kumar explained to the JDU camp how the BJP had made inroads into their strongholdsAware that it will have to go with the tide and any move to swim against onground sentiments will land the party in trouble the JDU decided to switch over to the NDA say BJP insidersMirrored in MaharashtraA Mumbaibased political observer said even Fadnavis played a similar role in MaharashtraldquoCongress Uddhav Thackerayrsquos Sena and Sharad Pawarrsquos NCP faction were all set to give a tough time to the ShindeBJP alliance government in the upcoming elections But Fadnavis weakened the opposition in Maharashtra by getting Ajit Pawar to join the ShindeBJP government The weakening of opposition has not only helped the BJP clear the obstacles for the upcoming parliamentary polls but has also strengthened Fadnavis and the partyrsquos position for the next state electionrdquo the observer opinedSantosh Pradhan political editor of Marathi daily Loksatta said that when initially the opposition alliance was announced it looked like while the BJP might have the upper hand in the runup to 2024 it definitely was not going to be a cakewalk against an unified oppositionBut with key players like Trinamool Congress in West Bengal and Aam Aadmi Party in Punjab announcing they will go solo the splits in NCP and Kumar walking out of the alliance have completely changed the equationldquoThere are still a few months for the polls so setting the right narrative selection of candidates are some things that can still decide which way the voter will swingrdquo said PradhanMove quick play smartAnother political analyst Abhay Deshpande said the BJP leaders were smart to sense the threat in around 50 to 70 seats and quickly started working on damage controlldquoIn Karnataka they tied up with Kumaraswamy Janata Dal Secular in Bihar and Maharashtra they succeeded in getting Kumar and Pawar Jr in their alliance camprdquo he said ldquoIn Bengal and Punjab while the BJP may not have played a direct role the decisions of the TMC and AAP leadership have indirectly benefited the partyrdquoDeshpande further stated that BJP seems to be favourite as INDIA bloc has not only failed to keep its flock together but even not able to give a face as its PM candidate that could give tough fight to Modi Sarkar ldquoBJP leaders are not leaving any stone unturned to achieve its mission of 400 plus seats Even before polls are announced the two BJP leaders from MaharashtramdashFadnavis and Tawde have already done the damage to the INDIA alliance and have set the tone for the BJP to make a comeback to power in Delhi for the third consecutive termrdquolsquoBarabari ka MuqablarsquoShiv Sena Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray leader and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut who played a key role in the formation of the INDIA bloc said people are trying to set a wrong narrative on the basis of recent developments ldquoIn Bihar Tejaswi Yadav and Congress will give a tough time to the BJP Same is the situation in West Bengal In Maharashtra merely by engineering a split in the Shiv Sena and the NCP is not going to make a big difference I still feel the game is not yet over Kaante ki takkar hai Muqabla Barabari ka hai There is tough competition The competition is equalrdquo said Raut