At least six of the 38 rebels Shiv Sena The legislators, who have been camping in Guwahati, for the past two-and-a-half years have called the NCP’s party workers “harassment” especially in the context of distribution of funds in their respective constituencies – along with the inaccessibility of crisis-stricken Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. The reason for his decision to pull out of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance that his party had formed with the NCP and Congress in 2019.
NCP and Shiv Sena have been rivals ideologically and electorally for a long time, till the time the MVA was formed. While their earlier families – the Pawars and the Thackerays – enjoyed cordial relations, the old rivalry between the party leaders was seen as the NCP’s widening influence in the MVA alliance. NCP supremo Sharad Pawar was, in fact, considered the glue holding the alliance together.
Incidentally, this was the former Chief Minister and BJP Leader Devendra Fadnavis who first raised the issue of “unequal distribution of wealth” in the state assembly. In March this year, he said that the NCP was sanctioned the most money, while the Shiv Sena had received less than it. NCP Deputy CM and Finance Minister Ajit Pawar had then denied the allegations.
Have a look at the allegations leveled by the rebels on NCP:
, Eknath ShindeThe rebel leader of the army tweeted that the MVA was “a dragon in whose clutches the Shiv Sena is”, and that he was fighting to free the Shiv Sena and the soldiers.
, Sanjay ShirsatThe Aurangabad West MLA said: “NCP and Congress were getting money but Shiv Sena MLAs did not. People of our constituency used to ask us, ‘Even after we are the Chief Minister, how are you not getting money, but other parties?’.
, Mahesh ShindeMLA Koregaon In Satara district, it also alleged a “huge discrepancy” in the funds received by the Shiv Sena as compared to the NCP. “While Shiv Sena MLAs got Rs 50-55 crore for their constituency, all NCP MLAs approved minimum or Rs 700-800 crore in their constituencies.”
He has also claimed that Shiv Sena MLAs “were not invited for government functions”, and that NCP Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar “did not heed the instructions of the Chief Minister’s Office”.
He said: “State NCP president Jayant Patil visited almost all the constituencies from where Shiv Sena MLAs were elected. In his speeches, he said that in the next election, an NCP candidate would be elected from the constituency.
, Shambhuraje Desai, MLA from Patan and Minister of State for Finance (MOS) said: “Many MLAs will come to me for their work in their constituency and request for provision of funds in the budget. Even when I was the Minister of State for Finance, I had no right to make provision for funds in the budget.
Desai said: “I had to request Finance Minister Ajit Pawar to also provide funds to do any work in my constituency. In my own experience, even in the previous government of Mahayuti (BJP-Shiv Sena), I did not get much money for my constituency. But if I am in the same condition even after becoming the Minister of State for Finance, then the rest of the MLAs are not getting the funds. I am telling the CM that the MLAs are angry but no decision has been taken on this.
, Dipak KesarkarSawantwadi MLA, similarly said: “Shiv Sena MLAs were not getting development funds, but NCP was distributing it to ITS? Instead of losing candidates. NCP was originally strengthening by providing funds and development to candidates of every constituency, but at the same time Shiv Sena MLA will not get funds to do similar development works.
Kesarkar also suggested that important ministerial portfolios are occupied by the NCP. “The only good departments we had were urban development and industries departments. For everything else, we had to go to the NCP to get our work done.
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, Sandeepanrao BhumreThe Aurangabad minister and MLA said: “Congress is not a big problem. But, we are not with the NCP.
, Bharatsheth GogawaleShinde camp’s chief whip and Aurangabad MLA said that while Uddhav “has not held even a single meeting with the candidates who lost the assembly elections in 2019 in the last 2.5 years, nor to give them strength to help the party in its development, provided funds for constituencies”, NCP’s Ajit Pawar had given money to “all MLAs, corporators, even zilla parishad members and sarpanches” of the NCP.