Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Nawab Malik predicted a neck-to-neck contest in the Maharashtra assembly elections. Malik said that he cannot predict the future and that it is a tricky election in Maharashtra this year.
Nawab Malik is contesting the assembly polls on an NCP ticket from the Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat in the Mumbai Suburban district. This time, his daughter Sana Malik is contesting from the Anushakti Nagar seat.
The NCP leader said in an interview with India Today's Rajdeep Sardesai: "Before the 2019 election, nobody had predicted what kind of government would come to power in Maharashtra. Anything can happen. Nobody is an enemy forever. Nobody is a friend forever. Things are changing. We have seen it in 2019."
Moreover, Malik predicted in case of a hung assembly, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar could play a pivotal role in government formation in the state.
Malik mentioned: "It will be tough election in Maharashtra. It is a neck-to-neck fight and nobody can say that without Ajit Pawar, there would be a government. Ajit Pawar will play a key role. He can dictate his condition as well."
2019 Maharashtra assembly elections
In the 2019 assembly elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) won 105 seats whereas the undivided Shiv Sena bagged 56 seats. The undivided NCP bagged 54 seats and the Congress won 44.
After the results came out, the BJP and Shiv Sena tried to form a coalition government in the state. Differences, however, cropped up between the two allies over issues like power sharing and CM post, which led to their splitsville after more than 30 years of being all-weather friends.
The Shiv Sena eventually allied with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP and the Congress and formed the government in Maharashtra known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Eknath Shinde's rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray
The government, however, could not complete its full term. In June 2022, the then Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, along with 40 MLAs, led a rebellion against Uddhav Thackeray's leadership. He accused the MVA of doing away with Shiv Sena's Hindutva ideology by joining hands with the Congress and the NCP.
The rebels stayed in hotels in Gujarat and Assam, planning their next moves due to loss of faith in Thackeray's leadership. After the rebellion led by Shinde, Uddhav faced a trust vote in the state assembly and resigned as the CM on June 29, 2022.
The next day, Eknath Shinde was sworn in as Maharashtra CM along with BJP's strongman Devendra Fadnavis as the Deputy CM. Shinde's faction of the Shiv Sena was now backed by the BJP, causing a split in the Shiv Sena. Days later, Ajit Pawar joined the state government as the Deputy CM, leading to a split in the NCP.