Mahayuti's MLC nominations reflect caste balance ahead of Maharashtra polls

Ahead of the Maharashtra assembly polls, the ruling Mahayuti appears to have maintained a balance in the representation of various communities and tried to avoid any potential rebellion while nominating seven members for the MLC posts, as per political analysts.

Of the seven new members of the legislative council who took oath on Tuesday, the BJP has nominated three, while the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's NCP have two members each.

On Monday, the state cabinet cleared seven out of 12 names and received approval from Governor C P Radhakrishnan.

With his approval, the swearing-in ceremony was held at the Vidhan Bhavan on Tuesday, hours before the announcement of the Maharashtra assembly elections.

The newly sworn in MLCs are BJP's Chitra Wagh, Vikrant Patil and spiritual leader of Banjara community Dharmaguru Babusingh Maharaj Rathod, NCP leaders Pankaj Bhujbal and Idris Naikwadi and Shiv Sena's Manisha Kayande and Hemant Patil.

Rathod is a seer from the Gor Banjara community based in Washim district. The community wields considerable electoral influence in the Marathwada and west Vidarbha regions.

Sources indicated a growing caste divide in the state, particularly in the Marathwada region, which could pose a challenge for the BJP.

Rathod, who is also the head of Poharadevi Sansthan, a trust which manages a temple highly revered by the community, was nominated in a bid to address this concern.

Notably, the BJP lost all the seats it contested in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections in the Marathwada region.

Chitra Wagh, who switched over from the undivided NCP to the BJP before the 2019 assembly polls, was promoted as the BJP state s women's wing chief in November 2022.

She is known to have a close association with senior BJP leader and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

In June 2022, BJP's former state president of the women's wing, Uma Khapre, was elected to the Upper House of the state legislature.

According to a BJP functionary, Vikrant Patil emerged as a promising new figure for the party in Panvel city, Raigad district, showing a strong interest in contesting the assembly elections.

"However, since the BJP already had a sitting MLA, Prashant Thakur, there was no necessity to replace him. To prevent any potential rebellion, the BJP chose to appoint Patil to the Upper House of legislature. He has been associated with the BJP since the inception of his political career," the functionary said.

Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, who heads the Shiv Sena, has also ensured representation in the legislative council of his party leaders, who were not given tickets in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

In the general elections, the then sitting MPs Krupal Tumane (Ramtek), Bhavana Gawali (Yavatmal-Washim) and Hemant Patil (Hingoli) were replaced with other candidates.

Tumane and Gawali were elected to the state legislative council in July, while Patil took oath along with Kayande on Tuesday.

The NCP, led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, has chosen MLC post for Pankaj Bhujbal, the son of state cabinet minister and OBC leader Chhagan Bhujbal, in an apparent to avoid potential conflicts before the assembly polls.

The other NCP nominee, Idris Naikwadi, is a minority face from western Maharashtra and former mayor of Sangli, Miraj and Kupwad City Municipal Corporation.

Naikwadi is the second prominent Muslim leader of the NCP from western Maharashtra, after cabinet minister Hasan Mushrif, who hails from the neighbouring Kolhapur district.

Ajit Pawar has been trying to maintain his image as a secular leader and has disapproved of the aggressive tone of some BJP leaders against Muslims.

He has asserted that his party is secular and follows the ideology of social reformers Dr B R Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotirao Phule and Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj.

"The Lok Sabha election results also indicated that Muslims have largely voted for the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi constituents. Ajit Pawar must be well aware of it. It may be the reason behind choosing Naikwadi for the Upper House to win Muslim votes in the upcoming assembly elections," said a political analyst.