Mumbai, March 11 (IANS): A situation akin to Madhya Pradesh is unlikely to develop in Maharashtra as the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress government is in a strong position here, senior leaders of all the three parties said on Wednesday.
Commenting on the political crisis in MP after senior Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia quit the party to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), NCP President Sharad Pawar said that Scindia wanted a quick rehabilitation after he lost the last Lok Sabha polls.
He (Scindia) wanted new responsibilities after he lost the Lok Sabha polls, but that is not in Congress culture nor is it so simple, he pointed out.
"However, if there had been discussions with 'Raja Saheb' (Scindia), such a situation would not have arisen... It will be clear in the next one or two days what (Chief Minister) Kamal Nath will do," Pawar said.
The NCP chief added that people in MP have full confidence in Nath's capabilities and feel he can work out a miracle, but that will be known soon.
On the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance in Maharashtra, Pawar said its doing very well and on the right path, so he did not envisage a MP-like situation coming up here.
Earlier, accompanied by top MVA leaders including Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar, state Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat, several cabinet ministers, Samajwadi Party state President Abu Asim Azmi and other MPs, MLAs and leaders from the three parties, Pawar filed his nomination papers for the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections.
Earlier today, Sena MP Sanjay Raut had said that Maharashtra 'power' (Pawar) equations are unique and the "MP virus" will not afflict the state.
"A similar operation by the BJP was foiled 100 days ago in Maharashtra. At that time, the MVA performed a 'bypass operation' and saved Maharashtra. Nothing to worry even now," Raut declared.
The statement was against the backdrop of the 80-hours long two-man government of the then Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy CM Ajit Pawar.
A couple of days after it collapsed as BJP was unsure of proving its majority on the floor, the Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party-Congress MVA alliance government was sworn-in with Sena's Uddhav Thackeray as CM on November 28.
NCP national Spokesperson and Minority Affairs Minister Nawab Malik said that the MVA is "not interested in initiating the defections game" since it has ample numbers in the Maharashtra legislature.
However, in a veiled warning, he reiterated that many legislators from Sena-NCP-Congress - who had defected to the BJP ahead of the October 2019 elections - are keen on 'ghar-wapasi' to their respective parties.
Thorat asserted that "the MVA government in the state is stable, and all three allies will scuttle any coup attempts by the BJP with complete coordination".
Dismissing all speculation, an aide of Thackeray said that the "MVA government is functioning smoothly" and there is no cause for any worries in the wake of the MP scenario.
Since Sunday, Maharashtra political circles are agog with speculation whether a similar political coup is being planned in the state around Gudi Padva, as claimed by several Opposition BJP leaders.
Currently, the MVA is comfortably ensconced with 170 legislators, BJP 105, and the remaining 13 belong to other parties in the 288-member assembly.