Former minister Ramdas Kadam cautions BJP: Don’t betray us or you’ll regret it

Ramdas Kadam

Even as junior NDA partners in Maharashtra are concerned about the Bharatiya Janata Party's bid to deny them the Lok Sabha seats of their choice, a senior Shiv Sena (Shinde) leader Ramdas Kadam called out the senior ally for ‘violating the alliance dharma and breaching trust'. Kadam said while the BJP had staked its claim to some of the Sena-held Lok Sabha constituencies, a BJP minister Ravindra Chavan was trying to unsettle his MLA son Yogesh in his Dapoli Assembly segment. "Amit Shah ji should reprimand such leaders," he said, recalling that the BJP was also responsible for his defeats in Ratnagiri district.

Kadam's rant assumed significance in the wake of speculations that the BJP would contest more than two-thirds of 48 Lok Sabha seats (30-35), leaving very little share for the Sena (Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar). Neither Shinde nor Pawar have spoken a word about it, but senior leaders from their parties have made their resentment known. Kadam was one of them.

‘Don't breach trust'

"We [Shiv Sena MLAs and MPs] tied up with the BJP two years ago, because of Modi and Shah. Shah saheb should reprimand the BJP leaders. We won't tolerate breach of trust. Remember that my name is Ramdas Kadam," he told media persons in an apparent caution to the BJP. He said the BJP leaders had been projecting the party candidates where we already have our MLAs and MPs. "Be it Ratnagiri, Sambhaji Nagar, Maval and everywhere they want their candidates. This needs to be abhorred. The BJP leaders should understand that they are giving a different message," he added.

Eknath Shinde and Ramdas Kadam at the Assembly. Pic/Shadab Khan

He said the BJP workers had voted for the NCP in the last elections. "I was defeated because of the BJP. We were in an alliance then. Yet, we in the Sena, tied up with BJP and we made a government (in 2022). Now the PWD minister Chavan and his associates are deliberately troubling my MLA son in his constituency," said the former opposition leader and ex-environment minister. He said the people would not trust the BJP if it continued to trouble the allies.

Fadnavis snubs Kadam

When asked by the reporters, Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis seemed irritated by Kadam's rant. "I have known Kadam for many years. He has a habit of making such statements. He speaks like this when he is angry," he said, adding that many people spoke that way to call attention, and hence mature people like him would like to ignore such statements.

Fadnavis said the BJP had always respected its allies. "We are 115 MLAs, yet we made Eknath Shinde the CM because the real Shiv Sena came with us. We are together," he further said, adding that there was no tension between the NDA allies over sharing seats in Maharashtra. "We may have differences over 2-3 seats, but we will resolve it amicably.

The seats will be distributed based on the real situation (on the ground)," he said, adding, "Media is declaring names, figures and other details on its own. The media should leave the job of seat-sharing to us."

Kadam's younger son made MPCB chief

Hours after Kadam spoke out, the government issued a notification to appoint his younger son Siddhesh as the chairman of the Maharashtra Pollution Control Board (MPCB). Siddhesh has been vying for the Lok Sabha nomination from the Mumbai North-West constituency where the Shinde Sena has Gajanan Kirtikar as an MP. Kadam senior and Kirtikar had sparred over the issue early this year. Siddhesh replaced former IAS officer Aabasaheb Jarhad. The notification said Jarhad was removed because he had remained absent for many months without giving any valid reason.

48
No of Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra

115
No of MLAs NDA has in state