With internal divisions within the alliance emerging and the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) getting ready to put on pressure, the forthcoming Maharashtra budget session, which starts on March 3, will be a critical test for Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the ruling Mahayuti coalition.
In contrast to the weaker MVA, which has just 47 MLAs following its electoral defeat last year, the Mahayuti, which is made up of the BJP, Shiv Sena, and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), has a solid majority of 232 MLAs. Nevertheless, despite the numerical advantage, the session could be disrupted by disputes between Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde as well as issues involving NCP ministers Dhananjay Munde and Manikrao Kokate.
Following the arrest of his close ally Walmik Karad in connection with the murder of Beed sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, Munde, the minister of food and civil supplies, is under scrutiny.
Meanwhile, Kokate, the minister of agriculture, received a two-year prison sentence for a case involving document fraud that dates back decades. It is anticipated that the opposition would draw attention to both problems.
Fadnavis's decision to limit ministerial appointments of personal secretaries and officers on special duty (OSDs) has caused discontent and is contributing to the coalition's internal conflict. Rumours of conflict within the coalition are further fuelled by Shinde's displeasure that his party was excluded from the guardian minister seats in Raigad and Nashik. Despite Fadnavis's downplaying of these issues, alliance leaders' statements suggest a continuing power struggle that the Opposition is likely to take advantage of.
A contentious discussion over the recent rape of a 26-year-old woman inside a state transport bus at Pune's Swargate depot will also take place during the session. Despite the accused Dattatray Gade's quick arrest, the episode is likely to provoke conversations about the state's law and order.