Farmers Movement Archive

Amit Shah visit to Malwan seen as BJP ploy to prop up Rane, cut Sena to size

MUMBAI: Union home minister Amit Shah’s visit to Malwan in Sindhudurg district to inaugurate a medical college backed by former chief minister Narayan Rane is seen as BJP’s ploy to clip Shiv Sena’s wings in the coastal belt, said observers on Friday. Rane is one of Sena’s arch political foes. Shah, who will visit Malwan on Sunday, is likely to target Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), the ruling tripartite alliance which was formed after the Shiv Sena severed poll ties with the BJP-led NDA after the 2019 state assembly elections. The two parties have since been crossing swords on a slew of issues such as Enforcement Directorate probes, the Elgar Parishad row and the farm Bills. Sources said the BJP central leadership is keen to project Rane as the party’s poster boy in the Konkan region, which the Sena covets as its bastion. Rane is said to have a measure of clout in the Malwan-Sawantwadi belt. “Cutting the Shiv Sena to size in the Konkan belt is crucial to the growth of our party. The Sena’s networking in Mumbai hinges on its grassroots workers, most of who belong to Konkan. Rane is being empowered by the party to take on the Sena ahead of the BMC elections,” said a state BJP functionary. Political observers said Shah’s Malwan sojourn assumes added political significance as it coincides with fresh murmurs in the ruling MVA alliance following the Congress decision to appoint Nana Patole, the Speaker of the Maharashtra legislative assembly, as state Congress president. Patole was formally anointed as MPCC chief on Friday. The ruling MVA finds itself in a spot as the NCP has said that claim to Speakership was not confined to one party alone. Moreover, there are talks that the Sena may be eager to install its candidate as assembly Speaker. “The constituent allies will need tact and tenacity to paper over the crisis,” said an NCP politician.

The Times of India

2021-02-06

Mumbai