The buzz over senior NCP leader switching sides to join ranks with the BJP, taking along a significant chunk of his party legislators, appears to be gaining ground in Maharashtra. The rumours, which were validated in a weekly column by Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, come before the Supreme Court pronounces its judgment in the plea regarding the disqualification of 16 legislators who rebelled to bring down the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA government and later joined hands with the BJP to return to power.

In his weekly column in Saamna on Sunday, Rajya Sabha MP and Sena (UBT) spokesperson Raut quoted NCP chief Sharad Pawar as telling Uddhav on April 11 that the NCP as a party will not ally with the BJP, but any decision by MLAs will be in their own capacity. Pawar’s remarks, according to Raut, were made in reference to the families of the MLAs “being targetted” by central agencies at BJP’s behest.

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Terming the recent developments in the state as “the second season of defections”, Raut remarked that such defection happen out of necessity. “Sharad Pawar said no one wants to leave the party in their hearts, but their families are being targetted… If anyone wants to take a political decision, it is their call… But we as a party will not go with the BJP,” Raut wrote, quoting Pawar.

On June 30, Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after walking out on his party leader Uddhav Thackeray, the then CM of the state, with 40 MLAs. In the trust vote conducted in July 2022 in the 288-strong Maharashtra Assembly, 164 legislators voted in favour of the motion of confidence while 99 voted against it. The current strength of the Assembly has reduced to 287 following the death of a Shiv Sena MLA, bringing down the majority mark to 144. Of the 55 Shiv Sena MLAs in the state Assembly, 40 are with the Shinde faction.

The statements by Raut gave credence to what many were brushing aside as political gossip. The buzz going around in Maharashtra circles for a while now suggests that a section of NCP MLAs led by Ajit Pawar could support the Eknath Shinde-led government in Maharashtra if the Supreme Court rules in favour of the disqualification of 16 rebel MLAs.

Meanwhile, Ajit Pawar dismissed the speculation and argued that even if the 16 legislators are disqualified, the BJP and the Shinde faction of the Shiv Sena have the backing of Independents to sail through in an Assembly with an effectively reduced strength.

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“I don’t think there is any threat to their government. Even if 16 MLAs are disqualified, they have the support of Independents to safely cross the magic figure,” Pawar said when asked to respond to the speculation going around. Pawar added that he is surprised by the rumours of his defection or the possibility of him offering support to the BJP.

Pawar, who was rumoured to have met Union Home minister Amit Shah in Mumbai during the latter’s visit to the city over the weekend, denied that the meeting ever took place.

Raut wrote in his column that Pawar met Uddhav alongside NCP leader Supriya Sule and him on April 11 and stated that there was tremendous discontent within the people of the state against the government. Pawar, according to Raut, remarked that any decision by an NCP MLA to join the BJP would be “politically suicidal”.

On March 16 this year, a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court reserved its verdict on a batch of cases linked to the Shiv Sena crisis in Maharashtra. The cases include petitions filed by members from the Thackeray and Shinde factions against each other over a host of issues.