top of page

By:

Abhijit Mulye

21 August 2024 at 11:29:11 am

Mahayuti struggles with seat-sharing formula

Mumbai: The ruling Mahayuti alliance is currently navigating a treacherous political minefield. With the crucial Legislative Council elections rapidly approaching, deep-seated differences over seat-sharing have surfaced. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday offered a candid admission of these unresolved disputes. His statements underscore the immense pressure on the coalition partners. The state is preparing to vote for sixteen council seats and one bypoll seat in Nagpur. Voting is...

Mahayuti struggles with seat-sharing formula

Mumbai: The ruling Mahayuti alliance is currently navigating a treacherous political minefield. With the crucial Legislative Council elections rapidly approaching, deep-seated differences over seat-sharing have surfaced. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday offered a candid admission of these unresolved disputes. His statements underscore the immense pressure on the coalition partners. The state is preparing to vote for sixteen council seats and one bypoll seat in Nagpur. Voting is scheduled for June 18, with the all-important counting set for June 22. Addressing the media after inaugurating the Jawahar Balbhavan in Mumbai, Fadnavis sought to project a calm exterior. He emphasised that detailed discussions are still ongoing to evaluate various aspects of the electoral battle. He expressed confidence that the alliance would soon reach an amicable solution. However, the specific geographies he mentioned reveal the exact fault lines. Negotiations with the Shiv Sena are heavily concentrated on Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar and Nashik. Meanwhile, talks with the Nationalist Congress Party are focused squarely on Pune. Alliance Arithmatic The arithmetic of the alliance is proving incredibly difficult to balance. The Shiv Sena had firmly demanded seven seats even as the BJP was offering only 3. They justify this claim by pointing to their strong support bases in Mumbai, Thane, Raigad, Sambhajinagar, Ratnagiri, Nashik, and Yavatmal. The Bharatiya Janata Party has a vastly different calculation. The BJP plans to assert its dominance by contesting twelve seats. This aggressive stance would leave only three seats for the Sena and a mere two seats for the Sunetra Pawar-led NCP. With the nomination process already underway, the clock is ticking loudly for the Mahayuti leadership. This intense internal friction prompted a sudden political maneuver by Deputy Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde. He flew to New Delhi over the weekend amid the escalating deadlock. Sena sources indicated that Shinde sought the intervention of the BJP’s central leadership. A Sena minister, however, quickly tried to downplay the optics of the trip. He insisted that Shinde travelled for an unscheduled programme before heading to Bengaluru for a planned event. Despite these official denials, the timing strongly suggests a high-stakes crisis intervention. Bitter Conflict The most bitter conflict within the alliance centers on the Thane local authorities constituency. Both the BJP and the Shinde-led Sena are fiercely staking their claims. A BJP legislator recently argued that political tickets should be distributed based strictly on numerical strength. He pointed out that the BJP commands 444 corporators in the region. In stark contrast, the Shinde-led Sena and the allied Jijau organisation possess a combined total of only 346 corporators. However, political reality in Maharashtra is rarely dictated by numbers alone. The Shinde faction views Thane as its emotional and traditional stronghold. Surrendering this territory to their alliance partner is considered politically unthinkable. This local dispute is already threatening to severely damage the broader coalition. A Sena Member of Parliament recently issued a stark warning regarding the upcoming Thane Zilla Parishad elections. He boldly asserted that Sena workers are fully prepared to fight alone and hoist their saffron flag, regardless of the alliance’s survival. The battle lines are extending further across the state map. The Sena is demanding the Jalgaon seat, which the BJP is equally determined to contest. Furthermore, reports suggest the Sena is preparing to unilaterally field a candidate in Raigad. This would further complicate the already delicate negotiations. Despite these mounting tensions, BJP minister Girish Mahajan has publicly maintained that the deadlock will be resolved shortly. A final decision now rests on an impending high-level meeting between Fadnavis, Shinde, and Sunetra Pawar. MVA Crisis Meanwhile, the political turbulence is not restricted to the Mahayuti alliance. The opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi is dealing with its own severe crisis in the Vidarbha region. The Chandrapur-Gadchiroli council seat has triggered frantic political poaching. As many as sixty corporators and Zilla Parishad members from the Congress party reportedly went missing recently. Congress leaders have directly accused BJP legislator Banti Bhangadiya of orchestrating this disappearance. They allege he has shifted the corporators to an undisclosed location to manipulate the voting outcome. The Congress has responded with an aggressive counter-narrative. Senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar made a startling claim that over one hundred BJP corporators are secretly in contact with him. While Wadettiwar strategically hid their exact whereabouts, his statement highlighted a critical vulnerability. He suggested that the BJP is also suffering from severe internal factionalism. Wadettiwar warned that these hidden rifts will ultimately cost the ruling party dearly in the forthcoming elections.

‘Monsoon tourism’ rings in cash, ecological alarms

Mumbai: Rains shattered records in many parts of Maharashtra particularly the big and small hill-resorts dotting the Sahyadri range in the Western Ghats, attracting hordes of tourists not only locals but from several other states.

The incessant downpour transformed the Sahyadri ranges into a lush green haven, cascade of waterfalls, streams, rivulets, but also hit travel besides raising fresh concerns about the impact of extreme weather events in the ecologically fragile region.


Tourism meccas like Matheran (Raigad), Tamhini, Lonavala, Khandala (Pune), Mahabaleshwar and Panchgani (Satara), Igatpuri (Nashik) and others witnessed massive crowds over the weekend, but the footfalls somewhat fell this week owing to the deluge around the state.


As per official data, Matheran recorded a staggering 700 mm rains on Monday-Tuesday, Lonavala-Khandala notched 425 mm, Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani 200 mm and Tamhini Ghat 575 mm (all on Tuesday), while the Sahyadris accumulated around 7,500 mm rains from June 1.


Weather watchers termed these figures as ‘awesome, mind-boggling’, while worried hoteliers in Matheran, Mahabaleshwar and other hill-stations in Pune and Nashik districts monitor the rain clouds as excess rains can wash out their monsoon business prospects.


Owner of Radha Cottage – the erstwhile heritage bungalow of the legendary Sir Pherozeshah Mehta – Manoj Khedkar said last weekend was full and next weekend is almost fully booked, though this week (Sunday-Wednesday) saw a steep 50 pc fall in reservations as people were stranded at various places.


“Such a deluge has washed away most of the mud roads of Matheran, several trees have crashed without and outside the hill-resort. The unchecked tourist influx could prove the death-knell and Matheran may disappear in the next five decades. The local and state government must take steps to conserve its fragile ecosystem, lay clay paver blocks to prevent denudation that weakens the green cover plus construct small check bunds to prevent water running on the muddy roads,” urged Khedkar, speaking to ‘The Perfect Voice’.


Panchgani’s Cloud Green Resort owner Vinod Shinde said that people come to ‘experience the thrill of monsoon in the mountains’, soak in the rains and the greenery, go for treks or long drives or hiking.


“It is popular all 12 months, but the monsoon weekends are jammed with tourists from not only Maharashtra but many parts of India. The roads have deteriorated and the anticipated Independence Day to Janmashthami festival season was disappointing with cancellations. Many sight-seeing points are closed and the adventure activities like paragliding, ballooning, etc are also shut,” a gloomy Shinde said.


Mahabaleshwar’s Brightlands Resorts owner Vijay Sevakramani said that while the hill-station has charmed tourists in all seasons, the past few days were of concern due to a spate of cancellations as Maharashtra was clobbered by heavy rains.


India 'embraces' Maharashtra's hill-stations

According to hoteliers, thanks to social media, Matheran – the sole automobile-free hill-station in Asia discovered in 1850 – reputation has spread, with many tourists coming here from Kerala, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Punjab, etc., and stressed the need to keep its lure always alive, with some restrictions or discipline.


Ditto is the case with Mahabaleshwar-Panchgani, Lonavala-Khandala, Bhimashankar, Igatpuri, a few sea resorts, the state’s historic coastal and hill-forts, and other attractions.


Amateur weather watcher and traveller Naveen Reddy said that the sheer volume of rains in the Western Ghats is “breaking many records” and Agro-Scientist Athreya Shetty termed the rains as “absolutely thrashing the Ghats”, but all these have made the lush green region even more enchanting, with the clouds gently descending on the hills and covering the tiny villages.

Comments

bottom of page