The expansion of the new Mahayuti cabinet led by CM Devendra Fadnavis has set tongues wagging. The conspicuous exclusion of OBC leaders like Chhagan Bhujbal, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Sanjay Kunte has sparked speculation of the move being an emerging risk for the Mahayuti coalition, especially BJP.
To offset this, the ruling coalition has done a ‘strategic recalibration’ by inducting the BJP’s Pankaja Munde and her cousin, the NCP’s Dhananjay Munde in the cabinet. However, this prompts the question whether the Munde cousins can fill the leadership vacuum among Maharashtra’s OBCs. The BJP’s dominance in Maharashtra has always been a delicate juggling act — satisfying the aspirations of its urban, upper-caste core while appeasing its growing OBC voter base. It was Pankaja’s father, the late Gopinath Munde, whose deft welding of the diffuse OBC communities made it a potent vote-bank.
The last 18 months have seen Chhagan Bhujbal, a stalwart member of the ruling Ajit Pawar’s NCP, emerge as the most vocal voice of the OBCs by taking a firm stance against Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange-Patil. Bhujbal, projecting himself as an ‘elder’ leader concerned with safeguarding the OBC community’s reservation pie against Maratha encroachment, had managed to gather the fragmented OBC castes and sub-castes during his rallies to counter Jarange-Patil’s insistent demand of securing a Maratha quota under the OBC category. Bhujbal’s stance had resulted in strains within the erstwhile cabinet under CM Eknath Shinde.
Now, Bhujbal has cried foul over his exclusion in ‘Mahayuti 2.0,’ hinting that his advocacy for OBCs may have cost him a cabinet berth. While Bhujbal’s outspokenness may have made him a liability in Ajit Pawar’s calculations, sidelining him underscores the Mahayuti’s tenuous position in balancing the demands of its OBC base and the politically assertive Marathas.
In this context, the induction of the Munde siblings, Pankaja and Dhananjay, appears a calculated move. The BJP and the Mahayuti seek to tap into Munde’s enduring appeal among OBC voters. Yet, the choice is fraught with challenges. Pankaja Munde, estranged from the BJP’s leadership for years, has been a vocal critic of Devendra Fadnavis, even blaming him for her 2019 electoral defeat. Though all that is water under the bridge, the Munde family’s chequered political record and internal dynamics could undermine the Mahayuti’s efforts to project them as the new torchbearers of OBC politics.
Complicating matters further is the simmering tension between Maharashtra’s OBCs and Marathas. Jarange-Patil, who remained quiescent during the Assembly polls, has again threatened to go on a collective strike from January 25 next year, intensifying his demand for Marathas to be included under the OBC category.
In Maharashtra’s fractious politics, where caste and coalitions shape outcomes, the BJP’s gamble hinges on the Munde cousins rising as credible OBC leaders. Whether this youthful shift strengthens the BJP or backfires remains uncertain.
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