Fadnavis taking oath is not the end of the matter, as he has to prove his majority. Indicating apprehensions of horse-trading the four parties have already transported their respective legislators to various resorts. This is the method they have adopted to keep their flock together. This ‘safekeeping’ of our elected representatives seems to have almost become a normal practice with people delivering more and more fractured verdict. It is unexplainable why a public representative and lawmaker should be willing to change sides so fast?

The Sena-BJP combine did not respect the mandate of the people and failed to iron out their differences by adopting a give and take attitude. The BJP-Sena pre-poll alliance secured a clear majority, winning 161 seats (BJP 105, Sena 56) collectively in the 288-member House. The Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray was opportunistic and believed that if he missed this chance, he could never become the chief minister.

The Sena explored the option of going with the NCP-Congress combine and form the government on condition that the chief minister would be from the Sena. Had the three parties decided to stake claim without dilly-dallying for almost a month, the things would have gone well. Unfortunately, since the coalition had some inherent contradictions it was not easy to decide. IN short, the whole thing got stuck on the issue of power sharing. BY the time, this was sorted out and the three parties were ready to stake claim, the BJP and a breakaway group of the NCP led by party chief Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit Pawar forestalled it by forming the government. The BJP stood to gain politically if it had let an unstable and volatile coalition come to power, as the Sena led coalition lasting the full term was minimal.

A shocked Sena-Congress and NCP were left high and dry blaming everyone else for the disaster. For the Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, it was literally a slip between the cup and the lip. In 2014, when the Sena-BJP alliance broke ahead of the Assembly polls, Uddhav had commented that the BJP had snatched away Sena’s golden chance. So when he brokered the alliance this time he wanted to make sure that Sena did not miss the boat. Since 1999, the Sena has not occupied the chief minister’s post.

While there could be a post mortem on how and why of the events, one thing is clear that these political parties have let down the people who had elected their legislators. The role of NCP is quite mysterious. Why did Ajit Pawar decide to split the party at the last minute? Did not Pawar know what was happening in his party or did he have a hand in the secrecy? Did the BJP miscalculate in trusting Ajit Pawar? There are no answers at present.

As for the Congress, it would have been a sweet revenge if it had become a partner in the government. Maharashtra is a big state and financial capital of the country. Congress had a strong base at one point of time. There have been allegations that the party took a long time to decide about the coalition. While the Congress legislators had been in favour of going with the Sena-NCP combine, some senior leaders were a little apprehensive about the ideology of the saffron party.

The story has not ended with the formation of the government, as there will be more twists and turns in the days to come. A defeat or win for Fadnavis government will indicate which way Maharashtra politics will go. The moral of the story is that single party majority is a healthy option for a democracy and split verdict is likely to end up unnatural alliances and unstable government. (IPA Service)