Maharashtra Card In Vice-President Election, All Eyes On Fadnavis

Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has been given a delicate task for the Vice-President election by being asked to play the ‘Maharashtra Card’ since the NDA’s candidate, CP Radhakrishnan or CPR, will contest as a voter from the state. He became governor of Maharashtra in July 2024 and cast his vote in the subsequent Vidhan Sabha election, hence he has filed his nomination as a voter from the state. This is a fortunate situation for the NDA since the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray has used the Maharashtra card twice in the past, defying the NDA fiat. In 2007, the then unified Sena had supported Congress candidate for President, Pratibha Patil, arguing that she belonged to the state. In 2012, Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray had blessed Congress candidate Pranab Mukherjee, who had visited Matoshri to seek the former’s support. Using the analogy, Fadnavis will appeal to the voters, MPs, to elect ‘the candidate from Maharashtra.’  The Uddhav Sena has 9 Lok Sabha and 2 Rajya Sabha members while the NCP led by Sharad Pawar has 8 LS and 2 RS members. Together, both command 21 votes in the V-P election, which seems to become a keen tussle. Hence, the vote bloc from Maharashtra will prove to be crucial. While Fadnavis has been told by Pawar in no uncertain terms that his party will stand by the INDIA Bloc candidate Sudarshan Reddy, the decision of Uddhav is yet to be announced. This became clear after Fadnavis urged him to back the CRP. Looks like Fadnavis will try to wrest some INDIA Bloc votes by using his political skills.