Who will have the last laugh: Sharad or Shah?

The ongoing twists and turns have transformed the Maharashtra political scene into a pitched battle between Sharad Pawar and Amit Shah, the two principal players trying to outwit each other in the game of the state government formation.

If BJP chief Shah had staged a coup early Saturday morning, managing to get his favourite Devendra Fadnavis and turn-coat ally Ajit Pawar sworn in as Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister respectively, Sharad Pawar engineered a counter coup with the majority of NCP rebel MLAs returning to the party fold by the same evening.

The battleground shifted to Delhi on Sunday morning as the NCP-Sena moved the Supreme Court against the Governor’s order. Pawar managed yet another victory of sorts with the apex court instructing the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to produce the Governor’s letter and the letter of support carrying the signatures of the NCP MLAs by Monday morning.

Now all eyes are on the Supreme Court. If the apex court orders Fadnavis to prove his government’s majority in the Assembly, say in the next 24 hours, can he do it? Both camps are claiming they have numbers on their sides. But the BJP claim seems a bit doubtful given the fact that Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari had fixed November 30 as the day for the floor test.

Eight days are good enough for Amit Shah to use his money power to buy rival MLAs. Governors are now rubber stamps who take orders from Delhi. Koshyari must have fixed November 30 at the Centre’s bidding. It clearly means that Fadnavis didn’t have the numbers when he was sworn in. Obviously, Amit Shah needed at least a week’s time to collect the required number of MLAs.

But Pawar senior struck in the meantime, upsetting Shah’s calculation. First, he managed to reverse the traffic of NCP MLAs back into the party fold. Secondly, he moved the Supreme Court on Sunday to engage his rival in a legal battle. Now, Amit Shah has little time to put his act together. It’s advantage Sharad Pawar, as of now.

What will happen on the floor is any one’s guess! There is another long night ahead for both Shah and Pawar senior to make their own moves and counter moves. But the latter is clearly proving more than a match for Shah to outwit.

First, Sharad Pawar succeeded in engineering a split within the BJP-Sena alliance. A long time BJP ally, Shiv Sena ditched its partner.

Sharad Pawar also managed to convince a reluctant Congress to join hands with the Sena and the NCP for staking claim to power. Now, Pawar senior has to manage numbers to outwit BJP to have the last laugh.

But 24 hours is a long time in politics. What happens by the next morning is not certain. Yet, the two Chanakyas have locked horns and one needs to wait and watch to see who has the last laugh: the seasoned Sharad Pawar or the new pied piper in the town.