Post-poll alliances to decide Maharashtra

Maharashtra politics has always been full of complexities and it is no different this time.

- PANKAJ VOHRA

Although the Maha Yuti coalition is pitted against the Maha Vikas Aghadi in the pre-poll scenario, there is every likelihood that the next government could be formed with post poll alliances.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde knows that he is not going to be the next CM and therefore he has started improving I his relations with Sharad Pawar and his faction of the Nationalist Congress Party. The BJP offices all over the state have pictures of Devendra Fadnavis, projecting him as the next Chief Minister. The BJP is contesting at least 150 seats in the 288-member Assembly and there are 18 others from the saffron brigade who are now in the fray as either Shiv Sena (Shinde) or Ajit Pawar's candidates.

Sharad Pawar, as usual, is playing a deceptive game and is applying pressure on the MVA partners not to declare anyone as the Chief Ministerial candidate. His opponents are accusing him of protecting the interests of big business houses and do not put it beyond him to break the MVA and join hands with any other post poll combination.

In this confusing game, the only two parties which cannot side with each other are the BJP and the Congress. All others are capable of exploring options if the mandate is unclear and leaves scope for re-alignment of forces.

The BJP is also aware that both the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar) would not bring much to the table and therefore is first trying to ensure that it has sufficient numbers of its own.