Maha Drama: Was Modi Wary Of Sharad Pawr's Onion Politics?

Nikhil Wagle, a compulsive hatemonger and fake news promoter, once again resorted to fomenting caste tensions in Maharashtra.

Wagle claimed Brahmins were unhappy with Devendra Fadnavis' exit as chief minister and Bahujans in rural areas are very happy with his removal from power.

These remarks were made on his twitter handle and must be looked from the perspective of the latest update on Maharashtra politics.

IANS, a news wire, reported the backdoor story of NCP chief Sharad Pawar's plans to form the government by joining hands with BJP.

The report claimed that Pawar had placed two conditions before the saffron party for the formation of the government.

First of his demand was to make his daughter and MP Supriya Sule agriculture minister, and second, he wanted replacement of Devendra Fadnavis as chief minister.

However, Prime Minister Narendra Modi turned down both the demands.

Quoting sources, IANS reported that BJP was firm on not to concede on replacing chief minister Devendra Fadnavis for the party had garnered votes on his taint-less image of a chief minister.

IANS also reported that the BJP rejected the other demand because it would have forced BJP to give railway ministry to JDU, which it did not want to lose in addition to agriculture.

More than this, according to my analysis, BJP must have rejected this demand after considering the track record of Pawar as agriculture and civil supplies minister at the centre.

He has been accused for encouraging hoarding of onion and sugar in collusion with retailers to control the prices of these stocks to arm twist his political rivals and in the process earn a quick buck.

During UPA rule, Pawar had annoyed Prime Minister Manmohan Singh over rising onion prices which coincided with the Congress plenary. The PMO had to give direct orders to top officials of civil supplies minister to get cracking.

The then commerce minister Anand Sharma had cited hoarding as one factor behind the jump of onion price, which prompted him to clamp the export ban.

Also finance minister Pranab Mukherjee had alleged mismatch of supply from mandi to consumer outlets.

Therefore, it should not have been lost on BJP the deadly combination of Supriya Sule as agriculture minister and Pawar, who is suspected of controlling the largest wholesale market in the country, would have arm-twisted Narendra Modi government by playing onion and sugar politics.

Modi government has put unprecedented focus on agriculture like improving productivity, safeguarding farmers and augmenting their incomes and improving their overall well-being.

The government has set a target of doubling farm incomes by 2022 by focusing on reforms across agricultural cycle - from seeds and soil to access to markets.

Now, let me come back to Nikhil Wagle's Brahmins' comment. Is it possible that he knew about Pawar's demands and later gave a twist to fit into his fake naration?

I think, those who helped Modi to get past 300-plus seats in Lok Sabha will agree.

Period.