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Joshi's removal 'in the larger interests of Maharashtra:' Thackeray

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

With just over a year to go for the assembly election in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray finally pressed the eject button on his "remote control" and ousted Chief Minister Manohar Joshi.

Revenue Minister Narayan Rane has been named to succeed him. He will be sworn in on Monday, February 1.

The move came as a surprise to the Sena MLAs who assembled at Sena Bhavan, the party's headquarters in north central Bombay, following a summons from Thackeray.

Speaking to reporters later, Rane said he was happy that Thackeray had selected him for the post.

Asked how he would improve the government's functioning and turn around the party's fortunes in a year when Joshi had failed to do the job in four, Rane said, "You will see the difference in the next few months."

He said one of his most important tasks would be to see that the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance sails through with a comfortable majority in next year's election. At present, the government depends on the support of more than 40 Independents for survival.

Thackeray, his son Uddhav and nephew Raj refused to speak to reporters at Sena Bhavan. Thackeray later issued a terse statement saying he had taken the decision in "the larger interests of Maharashtra".

The differences between Joshi and Thackeray worsened after the general election last year, when the alliance won just 10 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. Soon after, Joshi had handed over his resignation to Thackeray, owning responsibility for the defeat. Thackeray had refused to accept it at the time.

But relations between the two continued to worsen, especially after allegations of misuse of power by Joshi to favour his son-in-law Girish Vyas in a land deal in Pune surfaced.

Finally, at 1815 hours on Saturday, the chief minister received his marching orders. Within 15 minutes, he reached Raj Bhavan and handed his papers in to Governor P C Alexander.

Asked if the party leadership was upset with his performance, Joshi said, "I didn't get any reply from him [Thackeray] on that issue. When he asked me to resign, I just followed his instruction."

But Joshi also pointed out that not a single MLA or MLC of the Sena had complained against his leadership at a meeting of all legislators earlier this week.

The move to sack Joshi appears to be a desperate attempt by Thackeray to regain lost ground and arrest the Sena's declining popularity following the government's failure to implement most of his electoral promises. Moreover, an impression was gaining ground that Joshi was paying little heed to Thackeray and was becoming an alternative power centre.

Another problem was the growing rift between the alliance partners. Interestingly, just this week, Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde of the BJP boycotted the cabinet meeting.

Rane's selection is less of a surprise. He was widely tipped to be Joshi's successor after the electoral debacle last year, but the order from Matoshree --Thackeray's suburban home -- did not come. At that time, Rane had told Rediff On The NeT, "In politics, one needs patience. I will do whatever Balasaheb tells me to."

Sena politicians admit in private that the party will not return to power in 2000. Only time will tell whether Thackeray's gamble can change that.

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