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BJP, Sena smoke the peace pipe

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

The crisis threatening to rock the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party government in Maharashtra today appeared to have receded, with both the parties agreeing to form an informal committee to look at the controversial 'Shivshahi Punarvasan Prakalp'. The Sena's pet project promises to construct 125,000 houses free to slum-dwellers in Bombay -- and in the process it also got the BJP's goat.

The committee consists of five members, Chief Minister Manohar Joshi, Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, Maharashtra Housing Minister Suresh Jain, city BJP president Kirit Somaiya and chairperson of the Housing Development Finance Corporation, Deepak Parekh.

The five members will study the proposed SPP and submit a report to Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, state BJP president Suryabhan Wahadne and senior BJP leader Pramod Mahajan.

Speaking to journalists after the meeting, Thackeray said, "After this committee studies the pros and cons of the project, we will go ahead." After the marathon meeting of the joint coordination committee of the alliance, he announced that all differences between the two alliance partners have been resolved amicably, with the acceptance of all the demands put forward by the BJP including immediate withdrawal of about 14,000 political cases against various parties and restoration of the vacant lands held by the state farming corporation back to the farmers and setting up of a economic development corporation for the OBCs. The alliance was intact and the government will complete its full term in the office with Joshi as CM, Thackeray asserted.

Asked whether the project was viable since Somaiya stated it wasn't, Thackeray said, "On a scale of 10, I will give the project 8. And I am not giving it two points only because of technical difficulties."

As technical difficulties, Thackeray listed finding funds for the project, whose outlay is around Rs 80 billion.

"The financial aspect of the project will be sorted out after the committee meets and decides on the project," the Sena chief added.

Interestingly, this was the first time in the three-and-a-half years of alliance rule that both the parties have allowed their differences to come out into the open.

Though the problem between the Sena and the BJP has apparently been sorted out, BJP insiders feel the real problem has not been addressed. The BJP's main grouse is that both Joshi and Thackeray do not consult its state leaders and junior ministers on crucial issues.

The BJP was also reported to be keen on replacing Joshi, by senior Sena leader Narayan Rane, who is a close friend of Munde.

A state BJP leader told Rediff On The NeT, "We thought Joshi may be asked to quit by Thackeray, but it seems he is not at all in the mood to replace the chief minister at this juncture or even in the near future."

"The BJP's junior ministers are not consulted before taking crucial decisions by the Sena ministers," the BJP leader added.

A fact which resulted in the outburst of the BJP's minister of state for housing, Raj Purohit -- who did not know about the SPP -- and his refusal to sign the papers for the project since he did not want to be a party to it.

Thackeray was made to wait 40 minutes on Wednesday morning by the BJP leaders who arrived only at 1210 hours for the meeting scheduled to begin at 1130 hours.

The BJP leaders appeared visibly tense. Mahajan had no time for the paparazzi who had gathered at the venue in strength. Somaiya and Purohit, who are in the eye of the storm, arrived at the venue after nearly three hours.

Among the others present at the meeting were Sena leaders Raj and Uddhav Thackeray, Narayan Rane, Transport Minister Diwakar Raote, Chief Secretary P Subramaniam, BJP ministers Prakash Mehta, Raj Purohit, Housing Secretary V P Raja, special advisor to the Maharashtra government, Dinesh Afzalpurkar, and deputy chairman of state planning commission Prakash Jawdekar.

Before the politicians took over, Parekh and Afzalpurkar discussed threadbare the pros and cons of the SPP.

"We have solved all the problems and we do not want to discuss the past. We will also meet once in three months to sort out the differences between us. And in case the differences crop up before that, all of us will meet according to the situation," Thackeray said.

Asked whether Jain apologised to Somaiya for calling the latter a "fool", Thackeray remarked sarcastically, "I have apologised to everyone in the interest of Maharashtra. And I have instructed every minister to only comment on their respective ministries and not to interfere in others' jobs."

Interestingly, Mahajan preferred to keep quiet during the media meet, and answered just one question about the CM's style of functioning. He said, "As Balasaheb has mentioned, our differences are over. So I have nothing more to say now on this issue." Others from his side, however, are not so optimistic. "Problems may crop up again if the Sena continues in this adamant fashion," said the BJP leader quoted earlier.

Asked whether the SPP was viable or not, Parekh brushed aside the question saying, " I am not supposed to comment on what transpired at the meeting. I can only say that the state government must find out a way to solve the slum-dwellers' problem. And therefore we discussed the pros and cons of the project."

Additional reportage: UNI

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