Lacklustre fight from MVA

It seems the three opposition parties have not yet recovered from the defeat they faced in the assembly elections last October-November. Even though there was no dearth of ammunition against the government, but the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies did not show much enthusiasm in taking on the government in the budget session which ends this week. The three parties were rarely seen making a plan to tactfully attack the government. In fact, on several occasions, they did not seem to be on the same page.

While it is true that the MVA has just 46 members in the assembly while the ruling Mahayuti has over 230, but in the past there have been instances when a handful of opposition legislators have been able to corner the ruling parties. While there was not much attack from the opposition, it was amusing to see members of ruling parties – BJP and Shiv Sena – demanding a probe into alleged corruption. BJP legislators raised the issue of alleged irregularities in contract for Thane coastal road (that saw cost escalation of about ₹2,000 crore) as well as Mumbai road concretisation work. A Shiv Sena MLA even embarrassed the government by accusing a BJP leader of distributing contracts in the irrigation department. With their top leaders hobnobbing with BJP leadership in the state or in Delhi, the legislators of Shiv Sena (UBT) as well as NCP (SP) seemed confused whether to attack the government or not though there were some individual legislators who kept doing the job. As far as the two factions of NCP are concerned, there didn’t seem to be any animosity between their legislators unlike the Sena factions. Several legislators aligned with senior Pawar were seen chatting with NCP ministers, occasionally sharing meals and insisting that political and personal relations are always kept separate.

A low-key affair

With the cold war between chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde still on, the completion of 100 days of Mahayuti government just after Holi festival was a low-key affair. There was no event or congratulatory advertisements all over the media—unlike the ad blitzkrieg of the previous Shinde-led government. The tit-for-tat that is going on between the top two has been the talking point among the ministers and legislators during the ongoing budget session of the state legislature. The budget presented by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also did not bring any cheer to the ruling camp as the concerns over financial situation has dampened the spirit. The first 100 days have not exactly been a breeze for the ruling parties with incidents in Beed and Parbhani as well as the concerning financial situation of the state due to populist measures. The only significant activity was that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has asked the administration of all departments to prepare a blueprint for the future development of the state.

Disgruntled OSDs

CM Devendra Fadnavis’s stand on not allowing personal assistants (PAs) and officers on special duty (OSD) with dubious past to work with ministers has irked not only ministers from allies Shiv Sena and NCP but also the officers who were lobbying to work for the ministers. Speaking at Lokmat Group’s function last week, Fadnavis disclosed that some disgruntled former OSDs were trying to show the chief minister’s office (CMO) in a poor light. He said some of the OSDs whom he had rejected ganged up and tried to dig up information about officers working in the CMO with an aim to corner the CM over the issue of corruption. “But I have ensured that I practice what I preach,” Fadnavis said implying that he has ensured his personal staff would not have any skeletons in their cupboards.

Ajitdada, Jayant Patil and AI

Artificial intelligence or AI seems to have become a buzzword in government departments. Each minister and department have been looking at the possibility of launching something that can be done with AI. On Saturday, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar also brought up AI, but in a different way. At the Vasantdada Sugar Institute in Pune, Pawar and state NCP (SP) Jayant Patil were closeted in a meeting before NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar reached there for a meeting of the institute. Pawar is chairman of the institute while Ajit and Patil are trustees. The closed-door meeting of the former colleagues and now political rivals led to speculations whether Patil is switching sides. After the meeting, mediapersons pounced on Ajit asking him what transpired between him and Patil. The deputy CM said they discussed a plan for introducing AI in sugarcane production for which a panel has been appointed under Patil. Was the discussion really about AI or something else? Only time will tell.

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