NAGPUR: Congress circles in Maharashtra are convinced that a powerful section in the party engineered a premature leak of a possible split in the Shiv Sena legislature party to pre-empt such a group from joining the Congress. The move by the expelled Sena MLA, Chhagan Bhujbal, to lead a break way group of 20 to the Congress was pre-planned and the process was initiated much before Sudhakarrao Naik took over the reigns of the state from the defense minister, Sharad Pawar.
Inclusion of the group in the Congress legislature party would have raised the stature of the chief minister, Sudhakar Rao Naik, a proposition not palatable to his detractors within the party. The group would have become a sup- port base for Naik in the internal power struggle.
There was a difference in the inclusion of the group of nine Janata Dal MLAsin the legislature party and the joining of a Sena group. The latter’s size was too big and the operation was meticulously worked out.
The group is likely to make an- other bid after the assembly session. According to a top Congress source, the MLAs who dared to take the step of leaving the party have retracted due to the threat of disqualification and fear of Sena musclemen. However, it is expected that the process would be completed sooner or later.
BHUJBAL BLAMED: No Congress leader is ready to take responsibility for the failure to complete the operation successfully, saying the entire issue was left to Bhujbal who did not take adequate precautions to provide protection to the Sena MLAs camping in the MLAs’ hostel. The last phase of the operation was masterminded by the public works minister, Vijaysinh Patil, whose aides now claim that neither he nor the other trusted colleague of Naik, the legislative affairs minister, Shivajirao Deshmukh, were in charge of the operation.
A close aide of Sharad Pawar, the irrigation minister, Dr. Padamsinh Patel, who had staked his claim to the chief minister ship after his mentor decided to shift to Delhi, also made it clear that he was in no way connected with the developments.
The question now being hotly debated in Congress circles is who sabotaged the move, which was reportedly approved by the Prime Minister, P, V. Narasimha Rao and Pawar.
Naik, who has strengthened his position by inducting two ministers into his cabinet, representing the breakaway Janata Dal and the group of independents, on the eve of the winter session of the state legislature, was all for a split in the Sena.
It is only a temporary setback for him since his camp is convinced that ultimately the Sena will split.
The possibility of Bhujbal join- ing the Naik cabinet also alarmed “ambitious” leaders in the Congress camp who consider him as a threat to their plans. The Maratha lobby in the Congress is opposed to Bhujbal who represents the OBC lobby in the state.
According to Congress sources, Bhujbal, disillusioned by the anti- Mandal stand of the Sena, had met Sharad Yadav, during the tenure of the National Front government to assess the possibility of “hijacking” Sena MLAs to the party.
The Congress will not give any position to Bhujbal unless he ensures the support of an adequate number of MLAs,
The Congress leaders are certain about one thing, Even though the attempt to split the Sena failed, it would help the Congress in winning the Zila parishad elections.
Article extracted from this publication >> December 13, 1991
