The ruling alliance in Maharashtra seems to be under strain after NCP leader Nawab Malik sat on the treasury bench in the House on Thursday. Expressing his opposition, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis wrote to his cabinet colleague Ajit Pawar that it will not be appropriate to make the out-on-bail Malik a part of ‘Mahayuti’. In his letter, he said country and nationalism are more important than power.
Mahayuti, or the grand alliance, comprises the BJP, Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. Fadnavis posted his letter to Pawar on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, and said in Marathi: “Power comes and goes. But country is more important than power…”
While Malik himself has not made it clear whether he is affiliated to the Ajit Pawar-led rebel NCP group or the Sharad Pawar-led faction, Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Ambadas Danve and Sushma Andhare targeted the state government over him “joining” the treasury benches. He attended the winter session of the Maharashtra legislature for the first time and sat on the last bench in the assembly, next to the MLAs of the Ajit Pawar-led faction of the NCP.
In fact, Andhare even took a jibe at Fadnavis, saying he could put a chameleon to shame so fast he had changed his stand on Malik “against whom you all had taken out protest marches and disrupted the house proceedings several times (during the MVA government)”.
Maharashtra’s former minority minister is an accused in an Enforcement Directorate case. He is out on medical bail after he was arrested in February 2022 in a money-laundering probe linked to the activities of fugitive gangster Dawood Ibrahim and his aides.
Fadnavis, in his letter to Pawar, said Malik has the right to attend the assembly as an MLA and added that “we (the BJP) do not harbour any personal animosity or grudge” against him. “However, considering the kind of allegations he is facing, we are of the opinion that it would not be appropriate to induct him in the Maha Yuti,” he said, while also noting that Malik was out only on medical bail (and not regular bail).
He added: “We agree that it is your prerogative (to decide) who should be inducted in your party. But every constituent party (of the Maha Yuti) has to think as to whether it would harm the alliance. Hence, we are opposed to this.”
In a veiled reference to former CM Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis further said his party could not be on the same page as the “then chief minister” and the previous Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government that had allowed Malik to continue as a minister even after he was arrested “on the charges of having links with anti-national elements”.
(With PTI inputs)
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