Nawab Malik to Fadnavis, How Maharashtra Politics Became About Personal Vendetta

Political analyst Sudhir Suryavanshi said, “BJP has not hesitated to use every possible means to come to power”.

Maharashtra's political Mahabharat has now entered a new era, a kind of 'Pataal Lok' if you will.

(Photo: Samarth Grover/The Quint)

Maharashtra's political 'Mahabharata' has now entered a new era, a kind of 'Pataal Lok' if you will.

Udhav Thackeray's wife Rashmi Thackeray has been accused by Kirit Somaiya of having wrongly grabbed farmers' land adjacent to Mumbai... Maharashtra Minister Nawab Malik shared former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis’ wife's photo with a drug peddler... BJP accused of targeting Ajit Pawar's sisters and relatives through the central government agencies... ED summons Sanjay Raut and Eknath Khadse's wives... Former Maharashtra CM Anil Deshmukh arrested... I-T notice to confiscate assets of Ajit Pawar and his relatives worth Rs 1000 crore... Controversy over NCB's Mumbai head Sameer Wankhede and whether he is a Muslim or not.

Two incidents seem to have shaken all rules and regulations of Maharashtra politics. One, the seizure of explosive material from in front of Mukesh Ambani's house, followed by the arrest of Shah Rukh Khan's son Aryan Khan in the Mumbai cruise drugs case.

The political battle has now become personal. The matter has reached the doorstep of senior leaders. And it seems that the matter will go further. After a series of allegations made by Nawab Malik, former CM Devendra Fadnavis has hinted of dropping political bombs after Diwali. Responding to this, CM Uddhav Thackeray said that there is no need to wait till Diwali to 'burst political firecrackers.'

Accepting Fadnavis's warning, Malik tweeted and said, 'We are ready!'.

On the other hand, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut responded by saying, 'There is still time to be careful, because everyone is naked in the hammam!'

All this is new in Maharashtra politics, as personal allegations weren't levied earlier. Rather, despite ideological differences, the personal relations of senior leaders have always remained good. The friendships between Balasaheb Thackeray and Sharad Pawar or between Vilasrao Deshmukh and Gopinath Munde come to mind.

But Why Is This Happening in Maharashtra?

The catalyst behind all this is Malik, who is said to be making one allegation after another because the NCB took action against his son-in-law – though he has repeatedly denied the allegation itself. Some people have also linked this with Aryan Khan's arrest. But there is no proof of this.

However, some see all these developments as an effort of the BJP to somehow grab power in Maharashtra. The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government is about to complete two years. BJP had claimed that the government of Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress alliance would not last long, but that did not happen.

Political analyst Sudhir Suryavanshi said, “BJP has not hesitated to use any and every possible means to come to power."

Initially, BJP tried to break away MLAs but could not gather the required numbers. Following which, during the Antilia bomb threat case and the death of Sushant Singh Rajput, serious questions were raised on the law and order maintained by the MVA government.

The narrative was set against the MVA government, but this did not yield any results. Now, by targeting senior ministers of the government, BJP may be trying to harm the NCP-Shiv Sena-Congress alliance, hoping that if there is a possibility of mid-term elections, then people should not have any sympathy with the government.