The startling twists that politics in Maharashtra has taken is a stark reminder of the political upheaval that took place in Karnataka in 2006. The JD(S) had suddenly pulled out of the coalition with the Congress and formed an alliance with the BJP. On Saturday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) supremo Sharad Pawar claimed that his nephew, Ajit Pawar who was sworn in as Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra at 8 am, had forged an alliance with the BJP without his consent.
"Ajit Pawar's decision to support the BJP to form the Maharashtra Government is his personal decision and not that of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). We place on record that we do not support or endorse this decision of his," Sharad Pawar tweeted.
This scenario is strikingly similar to the events that unfolded in Karnataka in 2006, when JD(S) supremo HD Deve Gowda's son -- HD Kumaraswamy -- convinced 46 out of 58 JD(S) MLAs to withdraw support from the coalition government it formed with the Congress in 2004. Kumaraswamy's sudden change in stance at the time had come as a shock to many. When Kumaraswamy had announced his "unconditional support" for the BJP in 2006, many questions prevailed on whether Deve Gowda had granted his approval for the political coup.
At the time, Deve Gowda held a press conference at JP Bhavan in Bengaluru and said that Kumaraswamy had acted out of his own volition and that he did not support his son's move.
"It was Kumaraswamy's decision, not mine," Deve Gowda had repeatedly said when Karnataka was plunged into a political crisis overnight.
Just like Sharad Pawar, Deve Gowda too distanced himself from his son’s plot to break up the alliance with the Congress.
An insider privy to the most confidential matters in the JD(S), Kumarswamy's "sudden move" as Deve Gowda had called it, seemed like a betrayal to the former Prime Minister. "Kumaraswamy formed the alliance with the BJP for power," Deve Gowda had then said. His words are rather similar to Pawar's. However, others believe that senior Gowda was very much part of the plan, but it was only for public posturing that he distanced himself from his son's decision.
And just as questions are being raised today on just how much Sharad Pawar knew of his nephew’s plans to ally with the BJP, many had then wondered if Deve Gowda was also in on his son’s plans.
Despite repeatedly stating that his son had betrayed him, Deve Gowda had ultimately stayed silent when the JD(S)-BJP coalition formed the government with both his sons -- HD Kumaraswamy and HD Revanna holding top posts in the government. One was a Chief Minister, while the other held the powerful Energy portfolio.