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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.

The Governor Strikes Back

Updated: Jan 23, 2025

Tensions between the Tamil Nadu Governor and the State Legislature has evolved from simmering discomfort to a full-blown constitutional soap opera.

Tamil Nadu Governor
Tamil Nadu

The latest episode in Tamil Nadu’s unscripted constitutional drama unfolded in Patna, where Tamil Nadu Assembly Speaker M. Appavu staged a dramatic walkout from the All India Presiding Officers’ Conference. His gripe? Governor R.N. Ravi’s alleged penchant for trampling constitutional principles, disrespecting the state’s century-old assembly, and apparently, his knack for being an uncooperative guest at Tamil Nadu’s democratic table.


Appavu’s outburst wasn’t entirely unexpected. His speech was a fiery critique of what he sees as the Governor’s overreach. Accusing Ravi of skipping his constitutional duty to deliver the Assembly’s annual address, editing speeches with a political scalpel, and even offending national pride by disrespecting the anthem, Appavu painted a picture of a Governor more at home as a provocateur than a unifier.


The Speaker even revisited dusty recommendations from commissions past—the Sarkaria, Punchhi, and Rajamannar reports—to argue that Governors should be answerable to the legislature they serve. His proposed solution? Allow state legislatures to boot Governors out of office through resolutions, a move as radical as it is unlikely to pass in India’s current political climate. Predictably, Harivansh shut the idea down faster than a misbehaving MP’s mic.


The Governor-versus-state saga isn’t limited to Tamil Nadu. Across India, especially in opposition-ruled states, Governors seem to have swapped their ceremonial turbans for political helmets. Appavu’s grievances included everything from holding up welfare schemes to using their chancellorship of state universities to push the Union government’s agenda—a violation, he claimed, of constitutional federalism.


If Ravi’s actions have drawn Tamil Nadu’s ire, his critics argue they also expose a broader malaise in India’s federal setup. Governors were envisioned as neutral umpires in the Centre-State match, not the captain of the visiting team. Yet, Appavu’s claim of Governors acting as Delhi’s enforcers has gained traction, with examples cropping up from Maharashtra to Kerala. While this tactic might bring short-term political gains for the ruling party at the Centre, it risks deepening the Centre-State divide and turning federalism into farce.


Adding linguistic fuel to the fire, Appavu also took a jab at the Union government for its increasing reliance on Hindi in parliamentary bills. He dubbed this a violation of Article 348 of the Constitution, which requires English translations, leaving non-Hindi-speaking states feeling left out of the national legislative conversation.


Appavu’s walkout underscores the larger, unspoken question of the Governor’s relevance in modern India. Critics argue that Governors, a colonial relic designed to keep rebellious provinces in check, have outlived their utility. Their powers, ambiguously defined in the Constitution, leave ample room for mischief—a loophole exploited by successive governments to settle political scores.


For Ravi, being the protagonist (or antagonist, depending on your vantage point) of Tamil Nadu’s political drama is likely a feature, not a bug, of his role. Governors in opposition-ruled states often find themselves in the spotlight, whether it is vetoing legislation, delaying bills or rewriting ceremonial speeches. The Tamil Nadu government’s frustration is about a perceived pattern of Governors treating state governments as if they were branch offices of the Union.


If Governors and state governments continue to treat each other with mutual suspicion—and outright disdain—India’s federalism could end up as little more than a paper tiger, enshrined in the Constitution but trampled in practice.


For now, Tamil Nadu’s drama remains unresolved. Appavu may have walked out, but his demands, whether for constitutional amendments or respect for state autonomy, aren’t likely to vanish. Meanwhile, Ravi continues to enjoy his role as the lightning rod of Tamil Nadu’s political tempest. The question is not whether this drama will continue but rather who will have the last laugh: the Speaker, the Governor or perhaps the people of Tamil Nadu, watching this tragicomedy play out with equal parts bemusement and exasperation.

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