The coded message behind Shinde’s campaign against his deputy

Mumbai: A media campaign by Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde that apparently sidelines his deputy and the man who orchestrated his rise to the top, Devendra Fadnavis, has created a stir in the state.

A few days shy of the anniversary of his big revolt against Uddhav Thackeray which split the Shiv Sena, Shinde blanketed Mumbai newspapers with full page advertisements citing a survey that claims 46.4% people in the state trust a BJP-Sena government led by Shinde. Then, the advertisement goes on to claim that while 26.1% people want to see Eknath Shinde as their next CM, only 23.2% of those surveyed want to see Devendra Fadnavis as their next CM. The campaign, coming on the back of state BJP’s purported demand that Shinde drop some of his party’s ministers from the cabinet, is seen as a manifestation of the growing fissures between Shinde and Fadnavis. On Tuesday, the deputy CM, citing health issues, cancelled his appearance at a government function in Kolhapur where Shinde was the chief guest.

“I feel bad for my friend Fadnavis,” quipped state congress chief Nana Patole. “That famous Hindi film song, Dushman na kare dost ne who kaam kiya hai...seems apt for the occasion.”

What particularly hurt those in the Fadnavis camp was that the campaign projects the duopoly of Modi and Shinde. The double engine in this instance is driven by Prime Minister Modi at the centre and chief minister Eknath Shinde in the state. Not too long ago, in 2019 in fact, newspapers had run a campaign that went: ‘Deshat Narendra, Rajyat Devendra’ (Narendra for nation, Devendra for the state). Shinde’s campaign instead projected his deputy as the third wheel.

“Such advertisements or surveys have no value as the people of the state will decide who is more popular in 2024,” said state BJP president Chandrakant Bawankule before going on to add that all three, Modi, Shinde and Fadnavis enjoyed people’s support.

Sources say that after Fadnavis expressed his displeasure, certain ministers from Shinde’s party met him at Sahyadri guest house and tried to placate him. By late afternoon on Tuesday, Fadnavis had reportedly instructed his party folk to remove all social media posts ranting against the advertisement, and the Shinde camp confirmed that as part of the campaign another advertisement was being issued on Wednesday to talk about the team work of Shinde and Fadnavis with a prominent photo of the two men.

“Both parties should respect each other’s leaders without falling prey to any political motive. This will hurt the relations between two parties. We have thrice the number of MLAs than the Shiv Sena, and Shinde could become CM only because of the BJP’s sacrifice,” said senior BJP leader Pravin Darekar. “You (Shinde) could not have come to power on the strength of 40 MLAs alone.”

A close associate of Eknath Shinde who spoke to HT on the condition of anonymity, insisted that Shinde’s media campaign had been cleared “at the highest level.”

“The BJP’s internal survey shows that its fortunes are dipping. The party has also taken note of what’s happening in some quarters of the BJP in the state and they want to end this discomfort these people may have with the Shiv Sena leading the alliance. As much as ours, this campaign is also the BJP top brass’s message to its cadre to fall in line,” said the associate. He then went on to add that the campaign was also a message to the traditional Sena voter that no matter what, a Sainik would remain at the helm in state. “It’s a message to the Sena fence sitters to come to our side.”