In a challenge to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, two former Shiv Sena Navi Mumabi Corporators from his camp on Tuesday quit the party and rejoined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) under the leadership of former minister and Airoli MLA, Ganesh Naik.
The former Corporators, Navin Gavte and his wife Aparna Gavte, who recently met Shinde along with other former Sena Corporators to pledge support, returned to the BJP along with their family members and local leaders. The couple from Digha area of Airoli was welcomed to the BJP at Ganesh Naik’s office in the presence of several former BJP Corporators and local leaders.
Gold Rate
Wednesday 07 Jan. 2025
Following the curious political development, the veteran journalist Sujata Anandan took to tweets and analysed the report in her style. She tweeted:
I have kept this to myself for nearly 20 years but sharing now in view of Ganesh Naik’s shenanigans in Navi Mumbai. Eknath Shinde stole some Corporators from Uddhav Thackeray and now Naik has stolen three of these Shinde men from him for the BJP — he should beware that BJP has no love for him. If they can attempt to finish a Thackeray, toh Shinde kis khet ki mooli hai! But I am more interested in Naik. He was one of Bal Thackeray’s apostles who had been given full charge of Navi Mumbai, like Narayan Rane of Konkan and Chhagan Bhujbal of Nashik.
The other two could not do much in Congress or NCP, even losing their elections and shifting constituencies. But Naik broke to join NCP and perhaps because he had Sharad Pawar’s backing managed to overcome the Thackeray charisma and retain Navi Mumbai. Then in 2019 he broke from NCP and joined BJP but unfortunately BJP did not get to power. I was working for Hindustan Times when Naik was a minister in the Vilasrao Deshmukh Cabinet and his men were running riot in Navi Mumbai. Pawar had just forged an official alliance with Cong in 2004 & both govts in Delhi and Maharashtra were doing comfortably.
In 2005, HT launched in Mumbai and our printing press was in Navi Mumbai. On the eve of the launch Naik’s men barred the gate to the press building and prevented our workers from rolling in newsprint and uploading on a machine. It was 6 pm and we had to print the supplement with the main edition to follow but Naik’s men insisted this would not be done because we had ‘imported’ workers – experts trained in how to operate the sophisticated German machines and they would not be allowed to operate unless we employed locals. It was typical Shiv Sena style of functioning and our publisher was furious. She sought me out to say no amount of placating by our managers was having an effect and she would not allow the launch to be marred thus or be late on the first day.
“If this matter is not sorted out in the next 20 mnts, I would rather pull out of Mumbai than give in to these goons.” I had no idea what to do but then I knew there was only one person who could sort this out. So I asked her if I had her blanket approval to deal with it as I thought fit without having to pull any punches. When she gave me the nod, I rushed to call Sharad Pawar. He was on a flight from Delhi to Pune, just about to take off and said it would take him two hours to get to the other end. “We can’t afford to wait that long, Mr Pawar,” I told him. “We need to start printing in 20 minutes and if that is not possible my employer is determined to pull out of Mumbai. That will cause a political scandal and given that her father is a Rajya Sabha MP from the Congress, you know what that means? Your government in Maharashtra would be jeopardised and could even fall!”
It didn’t take longer than two seconds for Pawar to come to a decision. He told me, “It will take me two hours to reach Pune but I am sharing a pvt number of Ganesh Naik with you that only I and a very few others have. He will know you couldn’t have got it from anybody else. Call him on my behalf right away, tell him you got the number from me and I asked him to call off his men instantly. Tell him he won’t be able to reach me to check because I will be in the air but when I land in Pune, I want to know that the obstruction has been removed and HT is printing.”
I called Naik on that number and he immediately asked “Who gave you this number?” I said “Sharad Pawar.” & he knew I was speaking the truth. I passed on the message in toto. He was utterly shocked and said, “Give me just ten minutes. I will call you back.” He did, in less than that time and said, “You can check with your managers. The press is rolling.” I informed my employer and everything was fine. When I met Pawar for an interview next week, he was sore at the implied threat that the government could fall.
“What did you mean by saying that! How could the government fall!” Well, I told him, my publisher and the Congress President are good friends. Would she have tolerated the damage to her friendship by a member of your party in Maharashtra considering the damage was caused by a minister of your party who was part of the government? You would have had to sack Ganesh Naik, the alliance could have broken, there could have been a mid-term poll… All avoidable eventualities Pawar harrumphed and gave me a stentorian look but let it go. The incident was never mentioned again.
The next day, one of Naik’s men had called me to ask, Madam, aapne Naiksaab se kya bola? Unhone use (the obstructor) ko aisa phatka maara ki usne bistar hi pakad liya hai! That was the power of Sharad Pawar – his supporters were ever more afraid of him, than Bal Thackeray’s were of his ire. I do not think Balasaheb could have achieved what Pawar did so bloodlessly in this case. Naik was not afraid of BT & is now not afraid of Shinde. He will most certainly be used by the BJP to eventually hollow them out. These corporators did not mind joining BJP becoz they realised they have an uncertain future with Shinde and without Thackeray. More of them will follow.
