In a shocking incident, BJP’s Kalyan east legislator Ganpat Gaikwad shot his political rival Mahesh Gaikwad (Shinde Sena) at point-blank range. The bullets were fired in the senior police inspector’s official cabin while the officer was out pacifying the warring political supporters of both Gaikwads. CM Eknath Shinde was quick to visit the seriously injured at a Thane hospital. Deputy CM and Home Minister Devendra Fadnavis ordered a high-level inquiry. The situation that has arisen out of the rarest of rare incidents has not been easy to handle for the coalition partners, who have always been at loggerheads over this particular Vidhan Sabha constituency. The sitting MLA feared that the Shinde Sena would get his seat for Mahesh Gaikwad to contest from later this year. Tension was palpable between the rivals, but nobody expected such a bloody culmination. Recently, it was also evident that the local BJP and Shinde Sena leaders had differences over the sharing of the Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Thane district, particularly one held by the CM’s parliamentarian son. The trigger-happy Ganpat Gaikwad has hardened the CM camp even more. It seems the BJP will have to keep the gun-toting Ganpat Gaikwad away if it were to keep the ruling partner in good humour ahead of the crucial general polls.

Plainspeak or opinion 

Poll

Who will win the Punjab Elections?

BJP 32.76%

AAP 43.10%

INC 24.14%

Submit

View All In Poll

VBA chief Prakash Ambedkar has kept the MVA partners guessing even as they work on creating a solid Opposition bloc to fight the BJP, at least in Maharashtra. This time, Ambedkar left the MVA leaders embarrassed when he bluntly said, after attending a seat-sharing meeting, that INDIA bloc had ceased to exist, because Nitish Kumar had joined the BJP, Mamata and AAP had decided to go solo, and SP had given the Congress short shrift in UP. “I wish the MVA doesn’t go the same way... we want to be careful,” he said, while insisting that he wanted the MVA to have a common minimum programme before talking seat-sharing with him. While senior MVA leaders accompanied him quite baffled, he said he had left the meeting midway because he had some prior engagement. When asked later about Ambedkar’s opinion on the Opposition falling out, the MVA leaders had a lot of explaining to do.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore

Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com