The way Maharashtra’s affairs have been handled by the Congress (I) leadership has been so bizarre that it baffles description. If this is typical of the way those close to Mrs. Gandhi are functioning in other spheres, the country is in for very serious trouble indeed. Witness some of the details. By last summer, the details of the then chief minister, Mr. AR Antulay’s money collections had become public property, the matter had gone to the court and on preliminary hearings, a judge of the Bombay high court had held that there was a prima facie case of abuse of authority against him. Thus, when the matter was taken up by Mr. Justice Lentin, it was more or less a foregone conclusion that Mr Antulay would be found guilty of abuse of office and would have to go. Mrs. Gandhi herself made a public commitment to the effect that, in the event of an adverse judgment, he would in fact have to go. This gave the central party leadership several months to choose a successor. It should have gone through the necessary exercise even if it felt that there was some chance of Mr. Antulay not being found guilty. But it did nothing of the kind. When the then chief minister was finally asked to resign last January, his successor had not been selected. Otherwise, it would be difficult to explain why Mr. Antulay was allowed to stay on for a whole week after this resignation had been submitted and promptly accepted.
Finally, Mr. Babasaheb Bhosale was selected for the high office to the utter surprise of the people of Maharashtra. The only plausible explanation one heard those days was that he was Mr. Antulay’s nominee. On the face of it, this view appeared incredible. It was difficult to believe that Mr. Antulay continued to command so much clout in New Delhi or that the central Congress (I) leaders, including Mrs. Gandhi, wanted him to continue to run the affairs of the state, this time from behind the scenes, or that they could be so naive as to believe that, once installed, the new chief minister would for long kow-tow to Mr. Antulay. The reluctance to believe that Mr. Bhosale was Mr. Antulay’s nominee could only be strengthened when he kept most members of the former cabinet out of his government. But that only added to the mystery of how and why he was selected.
It is not quite clear when the Congress (I) leadership finally convinced itself that Mr. Bhosale did not measure up to the task of managing the party and the state. Perhaps it was unnerved by the strength of dissidence in the state Congress (I) legislature party, especially in view of the refusal of least 32 MLAs to vote for party nominees in the election to the legislative council on July 27. But while this was a legitimate cause for concern, it does not seem to have persuaded Mrs. Gandhi that she had to find another chief minister for Maharashtra. Otherwise, about three weeks ago, she would not have permitted Mr. Bhosale lo expand his cabinet and include in it some of the leading dissidents, with one of them, Mr. Ramrao Adik, as deputy chief minister. It is inconceivable that all newspaper reports to this effect were inaccurate.
For some reason or reasons, the proposed expansion of the Cabinet was stalled and, meanwhile, the police revolt broke out in Bombay on August 18. Mr. Bhosale was not in town, though he was naturally aware that a crackdown on the ringleaders of disaffection was planned for the early hours of that day. He was in New Delhi meeting Congress (I) leaders. It represented a gross failure of judgment on his part, in fact an abdication of authority. For, clearly, he had left this critical operation to officials. This was provocation enough for the Prime Minister to conclude that Mr. Bhosale must go. But did she reach such a conclusion? At least by August 23, when she left for Mauritius, there was no indication that the Maharashtra chief minister’s days in office were numbered. Then, suddenly, he was summoned to New Delhi on the night of August 26 by Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. The two met for three long hours, between 11 p.m. and two a.m. To discuss what? Certainly not the situation in the state in the wake of the police revolt. That kind of discussion could have taken place at a more reasonable hour. Mr. Bhosale’s replacement? But why discuss it with the man who is to be given the boot? In any case, had the final decision been made? No, that, we were told, would be taken by Mrs. Gandhi on her return to New Delhi the next day. Fine. But then had the successor been selected? Apparently not. Then came another twist in this strange series of developments. Mr. Bhosale might not be disturbed just now because the state legislature was to meet on September 6. Surely, those in authority in New Delhi should have known that the legislature was due to meet on that date. And surely they would have also known that a chief minister, widely believed to be on his way out, cannot possibly cope with the expected opposition onslaught on his government on the police issue.