EYES ON VARSHA

BJP is copying its successful strategies from Haryana and Madhya Pradesh to woo voters in Maharashtra

- PRATUL SHARMA

Maharashtra is the BJP’s unfulfilled dream. It is the only state in western India where it has not been able to run a government on its own. That dream may get fulfilled in 2029, Home Minister Amit Shah told his party workers during a pep talk last month in Mumbai.

This time, the BJP has to rely once again on the Mahayuti coalition, which includes the Eknath Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party. In 2014, Devendra Fadnavis became the first BJP chief minister to rule Maharashtra when he formed a government in alliance with the undivided Shiv Sena. Five years later, he came tantalisingly close to extending his stay at Varsha, the official residence of the chief minister, till Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray decided to occupy it with the help of the Congress and the NCP.

Since then, Varsha has eluded the BJP as it allowed Shinde to take charge as chief minister of the Mahayuti coalition. Who will have the keys to Varsha in 2024? According to Shah, the BJP will certainly have it in 2029. But for 2024, coalition dharma may decide Varsha’s next occupant, be it someone from the Mahayuti alliance or the Maha Vikas Aghadi, even though the BJP and the Congress are contesting the maximum number of seats in their respective groupings.