WHEN the BJP government at the Centre looked set to fall, a fortification exercise was launched post-haste in Maharashtra. First, the then prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee got the Shiv Sena-BJP combine to reinstate the Srikrishna Commission, the judicial probe into the Bombay riots of 1992 and 1993 that had been summarily scrapped. And now the Manohar Joshi government in the state has converted its minority status to a simple majority.
The latter effort, aimed at protecting the state government from an 'unfriendly regime' in Delhi, bore fruit when six independent MLAs accepted associated membership of the Sena last week. Following this, five more independent MLAs have given written pledges of their support to the alliance government, thereby increasing the Sena-BJP tally in the 288-member legislative assembly to 145 seats. The Sena has 73 MLAs, down one with the election of Madhukar Sarpotdar to the Lok Sabha, and the BJP has 61 members, down two after Lingraj Valyal and minister Rajabhau Thakre were similarly elected to the Lok Sabha.
What prompted Joshi to consolidate his position? "Fear," according to a senior BJP leader. "They (the opposition Congress) were trying to destabilise us. Now we have a majority, and it comes with a foolproof written pledge," he says. The Congress, too, had been wooing the independents, most of who had contested the assembly elections on their own on being denied party tickets.
Drama preceded the exercise. After the recent general elections, two independent legislators who had been made ministers—Sunil Kedar and Babasaheb Dhabekar—in return for their support to the Sena-BJP combine, were expelled following complaints that they had campaigned for Congress candidates in the Lok Sabha polls. More recently, two ministers—including the leader of the independents, Ashok Patil Dongaonkar—had been asked to step down. "Those guilty of anti-party activities were punished", said Sena chief Bal Thackeray. In Dongaonkar's case, his habit of speaking indiscreetly, had proved costly. Ironically, Dongaonkar is among the five independents who have pledged their support to the alliance in writing.
Political observers believe that with these steps the Sena-BJP alliance has stymied Congress efforts at wooing back rebels among the independents. But the move has created problems between the saffron allies. For, along the way the Sena has fortified itself more than the BJP. Apart from co-opting six independents into its ranks, the party has also taken in rebel Congress strongman Suresh Jain much to the BJP's discomfiture. "They are bringing muscle and money into the party; ultimately it will also bring about our downfall," complained a BJP MLA, referring to Jain, a one time confidant of Sharad Pawar.
In July 1994, BJP MLAs were in the forefront of a campaign demanding the resignation of Jain as president of the Jalgaon Municipal Council in the wake of an infamous sex scandal involving two councillors and the son of a Congress legislator—all of whom were allegedly linked with Jain, who has dominated the politics of the district for years.
Recent efforts by Jain, better known as Sureshdada, to cosy up to the BJP had been cold shouldered by the party. His induction into the Joshi ministry, in the face of BJP murmurings, will not go unnoticed by the junior partner in the alliance. What is more, Joshi carved out a new portfolio—trade and commerce—to accommodate Jain, who was sworn in along with four others including an independent and a newly co-opted member of the Sena.
"The BJP may be unhappy because Sureshdada has been at loggerheads with them in Jalgaon, but for us he is a definite asset. He brings the strength of a whole region with him," says a Sena leader. His party is counting on the trade, industry and civic bodies to which they will get access, the introduction courtesy Jain who is well connected in Khandesh, the North Maharashtra region where Jalgaon is located. Jain's close associates include the powerful, multi-crore Jain irrigation group.
But will bringing in Jain and the others stabilise the alliance as desired? Or will it succeed in creating a rift between the two saffron partners who for many years have shared an uneasy marriage? Time, as they say, will tell.
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