Three Reasons Why BJP Should Retain Eknath Shinde As Chief Minister In Maharashtra

However much this may cause heartburn for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), its best long-term interests in Maharashtra lie in retaining Eknath Shinde as Chief Minister (CM).

For numbers do not tell the whole story, and the mere fact that the BJP won 132 seats to Shinde’s 57 is not reason enough to deny him a continuance, even if it is only for half a term.

Also, the support of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is immaterial. In fact, the BJP should be wary of him, for he is one wily political operator. He is more likely to pull the rug out from under the BJP than Shinde.

Three reasons why.

First, Shinde, who still has a battle to win in proving to be the real Shiv Sena vis-a-vis Uddhav Thackeray, will be seriously undercut if he is removed as CM now.

As a long-term ideological ally of the BJP, the Sena needs to survive and remain strong if the BJP is to extend its reach in Maharashtra. If the BJP has to choose between the two Senas, should it not stand by the Sena segment that enabled the return of a Sena-BJP government in mid-2022? 

Second, as a Maratha and someone not waving his caste flag too much, Shinde offers two advantages over Devendra Fadnavis. One, picking him will keep the Sharad Pawar NCP’s caste-based targeting of Fadnavis at bay. And two, as someone who has risen from below, Shinde’s connect with the masses is class-based and not necessarily caste-based. This will make him less prone to brandishing his Maratha card, which scares non-Maratha Other Backward Classes (OBCs) — the BJP’s key constituency. 

Third, this caste-based calculation may seem unfair to Fadnavis, but that is the reality of Indian politics right now. There will come a time when competence and not caste will matter to the electorate more, but that time unfortunately is not now. The very fact that the caste survey idea of Rahul Gandhi still finds so many takers should tell us about the potency of caste in Indian politics.

This sounds like a bad deal for Fadnavis, who has worked really hard for the BJP’s success. He also sacrificed his own interests to put Shinde in the driver’s seat in 2022. More so when he gave us a good administration between 2014 and 2019. But the same caste and class logic of mid-2022 holds today. 

Fadnavis should accept the Gita’s verse, which says that one must focus on duty, not on rewards. As a former Swayamsevak, this should not be difficult for him. He showed this when he accepted the role of Deputy CM in 2022 against his own inclinations. But as Deputy CM now, he can wield real power behind the throne by getting more ministries for the BJP. 

Being the bridesmaid, never the bride, is the lot of some people. But that is not a bad place to be when you hold the levers of power. Fadnavis is a good man for the BJP and for Maharashtra. He can serve even if he is not Chief Minister.