POLITICS
43 Is The Number: BJP’s quest to retain NDA’s 2019 Maharashtra tally
What’s the BJP strategy behind ensnaring Ashok Chavan? To retain the 43 seats NDA won in 2019, BJP ensured splits in NCP and Shiv Sena. But the gains have reached saturation because of polarised voters. And so a new narrative of a weakening Congress that even its top leaders have no confidence in, and thus chipping away at the wavering holdout voter
POLITICS
The party making INDIA bloc's Maharashtra seat sharing extremely tricky
Prakash Ambedkar and his outfit – the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi – have become a force to reckon with in Maharashtra, much to the chagrin of Congress and NCP. VBA can dent the INDIA bloc without a seat-sharing arrangement
BUSINESS
Shinde buys time for Maratha quota, but the distress fuelling protests is a ticking time bomb
The newest Maratha community poster boy, Manoj Jarange Patil, moved quickly to end his indefinite fast and give the government two months’ time to sort out the Maratha demand for blanket reservation. It calmed the flaring tempers and nipped the sporadic violence that threatened to discredit his movement, but the socio-economic distress of rural Maharashtra is unlikely to be assuaged solely by quotas
BUSINESS
Marathas leave Shinde-Fadnavis-Pawar government floundering with OBC quota demand
Reeling under drought, agrarian distress and diminishing political heft, the landowning Maratha community is clutching at straws like OBC reservation and reposing their faith in a new leader. Entrenched OBCs like the Kunbis are worried. There are no easy options for the BJP and its Maharashtra allies
BUSINESS
Sharad Pawar hits the road, but a formal NCP split is proving hardest for both factions
Ajit Pawar is hopeful of delivering the entire NCP to the NDA so as to maximise his clout. And thus his attempts to win over Sharad Pawar. But with the veteran unrelenting, and the NCP split not yet formal, the Ajit faction and BJP are unable to attack Pawar Sr as he forays into their turfs
BUSINESS
The Pawar war suits BJP but has it bitten off more than can be chewed?
BJP has hit Sharad Pawar where it hurts. But there’s a catch. While Ajit Pawar battles his uncle and reaches for the magic number of 36 to duck the anti-defection law, his induction and CM ambitions requires BJP to assuage the aspirations of the Shinde faction and its own rank-and-file
BUSINESS
Pitting NCP against NCP after Sena against Sena, BJP sits pretty
The game is not over. BJP’s pathway to 2024 in Maharashtra eases but a lot could depend on who emerges on top in NCP. Ajit Pawar has the backing of most NCP MLAs and surely among workers too. But Sharad Pawar could take the battle to the streets for the Maratha vote
POLITICS
Maharashtra: 2024 looms tantalisingly for grand alliances roiled by rivalries, united by survival instincts and ambition
Both the MVA and the NDA in their present form haven’t been tested in a broad based election yet but the constituent parties are testing and sizing each other up. BJP is by a distance the largest party in the state but its alliance with the Shinde Sena is on a weak wicket and hasn’t had success engineering larger cleavages in the MVA
BUSINESS
In one momentary announcement, Sharad Pawar sends his party, rivals and allies to go figure a changed state of play
Sharad Pawar resigned as NCP president just when it seemed he was losing his grip on the party. The decision will nip any potential rebellion in the bud and allow him to step back just that little bit from Maharashtra politics to become a fulcrum of national opposition unity efforts
POLITICS
With BJP dominating Hindutva, a new articulation of regional politics could be Uddhav Thackeray's best bet
Amid the fight of his life to salvage his political future and irritants like Rahul Gandhi’s derisiveness towards VD Savarkar, Uddhav has no option but to stick with the MVA, which has a certain electoral traction. But his politics needs new direction, not just arithmetic
BUSINESS
Farmers In The Red: The multi-layered problem of onions
The supply glut of onions is poised to get worse with the Rabi crop coming soon. Farmers won’t be able to even recover production costs despite the Maharashtra government’s Rs 3.5 per kg aid measure. Nevertheless, CM Eknath Shinde has bought himself some time with a committee to examine their demands
