Political leaders use Ganesh festival to meet and build bridges

Mumbai: At a time of unprecedented prickliness and confrontation among the state’s political class, leaders across party lines are making use of Ganesh Chaturthi to build bridges, lure opponents and create optics for new formulations.

A meeting between deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and senior Congress leader Ashok Chavan at Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) functionary Ashish Kulkarni’s house on Thursday to offer prayers on the occasion of the ongoing festival fuelled speculation about the latter joining the BJP even as both leaders firmly denied that their meeting was “political” and said that they had simply “bumped into each”.

Chavan, who was CM from November 2008 to December 2010, is a senior Congress leader. Kulkarni, a former Congressman who switched to the BJP in 2018, was recently appointed as an officer on special duty in CM Eknath Shinde’s office.

Besides this politically noteworthy meeting, what caught everyone’s attention were Shinde’s visits to the homes of various political leaders, but most specifically, his former Sena comrades.

On Thursday, Shinde offered “Ganesh darshan” at the residence of Manohar Joshi, a senior Sena leader who is still consulted by party president Uddhav Thackeray. This was the second time that the CM visited Joshi’s residence after taking oath. Political circles are rife with speculation that this is an attempt to poach a loyalist from Thackeray’s camp.

Shinde also visited the home of Thackeray’s private secretary, Milind Narvekar. Interestingly, Narvekar was one of the emissaries Thackeray sent to Surat to convince the rebel legislators after their June rebellion. It is also well known that he shares cordial relations with Shinde.

Shinde also paid a visit to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s Dadar residence on Thursday to offer prayers. His visit assumes significance in the backdrop of the BJP’s efforts to warm up to the MNS as a way to counter the Sena in the forthcoming civic body elections. Raj, who is Thackeray’s cousin, was a strident critic of the previous Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. While Raj has stopped short of siding with the BJP, his campaigns earlier in the year against loudspeakers outside mosques, took forward the saffron party’s Hindutva agenda.

The effort to build bridges was not restricted only to the political sphere. Shinde and Fadnavis also visited Mukesh Ambani’s home to offer prayers during the Ganesh festival and spent some time with the tycoon and his family. Significantly, Ambani was among those present on the dais when Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra on November 28, 2019.

Meanwhile, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who scrupulously keeps away from rituals, will this year be participating in an aarti at the Garware Club House, which he heads, on September 3.

On Friday, Shinde also visited Union minister Narayan Rane and BJP leader Mohit Kamboj’s respective homes.

The bridge-building over the remaining days of the Ganesh festival will come to the fore again when Union home minister Amit Shah is on his two-day visit in the city. As part of his programme he is expected to visit Lalbaugcha Raja as well as the homes of the CM, the deputy DM and city BJP chief Ashish Shelar.