Rumours of Maratha CM upset RSS

The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is unhappy with rumours being floated in the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the choice of the state’s new chief minister, and politics relating to caste equations potentially influencing the selection process.

For the RSS, the ideological mentor of the BJP, it’s an open-and-shut case – Devendra Fadnavis, who they say led the Mahayuti alliance to a landslide victory in the recent state elections, is the natural choice for the post. However, in the last few days, a section of the BJP has floated the names of other contenders.

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The names of Vinod Tawde, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, Chandrakant Patil, and more recently Union Minister of State for Civil Aviation Murlidhar Mohol have been doing the rounds on social media. While Tawde, Patil and Mohol are Marathas, Bawankule is from the OBC category, and their possible candidacy would draw caste considerations into the narrative. The Maratha and OBC communities have played a significant role in the run-up to the assembly elections, and supporters of this quartet believe this should be taken into account when the BJP chooses the new CM.

This has upset the Sangh Parivar, which campaigned hard for Fadnavis, a Brahmin, during the elections. With a systematic micro-planning strategy, Fadnavis and the RSS machinery, armed with 3,000 swayamsevaks, toured every district in the state, to ensure the phenomenal victory for the Mahayuti coalition.

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A senior RSS leader, affiliated to the Rashtriya Muslim Manch, an RSS frontal organisation, said the RSS has communicated to the BJP leadership that given Fadnavis’s pivotal role in the Mahayuti’s win, he should be the natural choice for the CM’s post. Not selecting him could also adversely affect the party in the upcoming municipal elections, particularly in Mumbai.

The RSS is disappointed that the four leaders, who have been groomed by the Sangh, are not toeing the RSS line. The Sangh points out that both Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde, who have been offered the posts of dual deputy chief ministers, are Marathas. There is no reason for a section of BJP politicians to insist on a Maratha CM, argues the RSS.

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A senior RSS activist said that when this issue was raised with the party high command, Mohol was forced to clarify that his candidacy for CM’s post was no more than an idle rumour. In a social media post, Mohol said, “Our party is disciplined, and the party’s decision is final. Such significant decisions are made unanimously by the parliamentary board, not through social media discussions.”