MUMBAI: While the coronavirus forced people to stay indoors, the combination of Shiv Sena’s Maha Vikas Aghadi of Maharashtra, NCP and congresses was also busy Bjp at bay on many issues as he battled the pandemic throughout the year.
The ruling alliance clashed with the BJP over the relocation of the Mumbai subway car shed project from Aarey to Kanjurmarg, even as the Bombay high court suspended the allocation of land in Kanjurmarg for the integrated subway car shed project.
The year also saw the position of Shiv Sena’s ‘fiery Hindutva’ softening, with Prime Minister Uddhav Thackeray talking about taking everyone with us.
Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari and Thackeray engaged in a bitter exchange about reopening religious sites in the state.
In a sarcastic letter, Koshyari asked Thackeray if he had become “secular” by denying him permission to reopen religious sites. Thackeray responded, saying that he didn’t need a Hindutva certificate from anyone.
Following the letter of Koshyaris, Nationalist Congress Party The head of the (NCP), Sharad Pawar, also sent a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticizing the governors’ approach to the issue.
“I am shocked and surprised to learn that the governor’s letter was released to the media and also the type of language used in the letter that does not suit a person holding a constitutional office well,” Pawar wrote to the prime minister. .
While the Sena and the NCP appeared to be taking full advantage of the unlikely post-electoral alliance that the government formed last year, the Congress that finished fourth in assembly polls found itself cornered.
According to a congressional leader, some members of the party’s state unit feel that if he had sought the post of deputy prime minister rather than the post of president of the assembly, the MVA regime might have looked like a true tripartite government.
Ajit Pawar, who returned to the MVA after forming a three-day government with Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP last year, is someone Uddhav Thackeray relies heavily on for his administrative acumen, a Sena leader said.
The MVA government did not have the “honeymoon” period that a newly formed dispensation normally has. After the full cabinet was formed on December 30 of last year, the government had barely three months to settle in before the pandemic took over the state.
Even as the perception grew stronger that the ‘Thackeray sarkar’ was managing the pandemic well by establishing ‘jumbo’ field hospitals, a working group of medical experts to advise on treatment, audit Covid-19 deaths, occupying more than 80% of private hospital beds and covering the state population under the Mahatma Phule health scheme, there was the death of actor Sushant Singh Rajput in June this year.
The coalition government led by Thackeray found itself in the crosshairs of the BJP when attempts were made to implicate his son and the minister of state. Aaditya thackeray in the death of Rajput and celebrity media manager Disha Salian.
Mumbai police said the Rajput’s death was a suicide case, but encouraged by social media theories, the actor’s family filed a complaint against the actor’s girlfriend, Rhea Chakraborty, and her relatives, accusing her of stealing his money and lead him to end his life.
Actor Kangana Ranaut joined the anti-government campaign on social media by tweeting against Shiv Sena, Uddhav Thackeray and their son.
At his party’s rally in Dussehra, Thackeray spoke about conspiracy theories surrounding the death of Rajput that targeted Aaditya Thackeray.
Without naming Kangana Ranaut, he said that “those who cry out for justice” accuse the Mumbai police of being useless. “Mumbai is PoK (Pakistani Occupied Kashmir), there are drug addicts everywhere, they are painting that picture,” he said.
In what the BJP called retaliation against critics of the state government, journalist Arnab Goswami was arrested in an incitement to a suicide case, while the Sena-controlled Mumbai municipal corporation demolished the alleged illegal Ranaut construction in Bandra .
Mumbai police also discovered a TRP ratings scam that allegedly involved the Republic Media Network and arrested some network officials.
Even when some questioned the stability of the government, the victory of Congress and the NCP in the graduate and teacher constituencies in the legislative council elections encouraged MVA partners who contested the elections together.
The results boosted morale for the government that spent most of the year battling the coronavirus and natural calamities such as cyclones, floods and torrential rains.
Former BJP leaders Eknath Khadse and Jaisingrao Gaikwad joined the NCP this year.
In December, the Maharashtra cabinet decided to include the Maratha community in the category of Economically Weakest Sections (EWS). The 10% SAT fee is intended for those who are not covered by any social reserve.
The decision was made after the implementation of the quota for the Maratha community under the ESCB (Social and Economically backward class) the category was suspended by the Supreme Court and challenged by the state government.
Shiv Sena’s fight against BJP over the location of the subway car shed for the Colaba-Bandra-Seepz line will get uglier, and the state government is now looking for land destined for Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s pet bullet train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad. .
The MVA government is considering using land in the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) that was reserved to be the point of origin for the bullet train. “We are considering several sites. One is the BKC land for the bullet train project. The other options are Pahadi, Goregaon and a land in Kalina“said an official.
The MVA government faced criticism for not extending the terms of three statutory development boards that expired on April 30 this year.
The boards The Vidarbha development board, the Marathwada development board, and the Rest of Maharashtra development board were created on May 1, 1994, with the stated aim of correcting the regional imbalance in the allocation of funds and resources for the development of underserved regions.
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