Jarange's Rs 500 crore audio clip pits Shinde Sena against BJP; Shrikant Shinde says nothing

An audio clip released by Maratha quota activist Manoj Jarange Patil has set off an open quarrel between the Shiv Sena and the BJP, the two main partners in the Mahayuti alliance. Leaders of both parties have spent the past two days attacking each other, and the one man at the centre of the claim, MP Shrikant Shinde, has not said a word.

The clip features people linked to the BJP. In it, one of them claims that Rs 500 crore was paid to Jarange through Shrikant Shinde. One account of the clip says the money was paid on behalf of the BJP. After the recording came out, Jarange put the question directly to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and asked for his answer.

Leaders of the Shinde faction then turned on the BJP. Ramdas Kadam suggested that the BJP was indirectly behind the release of the clip. He also made a sharp charge against BJP leaders, saying they were trying to cut someone's throat. The two filings differ on the details. One says Kadam spoke of a case being used to cut his own throat. The other says he accused the BJP of trying to cut Eknath Shinde's throat with a hair.

The BJP hit back quickly. MLA Prasad Lad replied aggressively and warned Kadam that he would be in trouble if what Kadam says about Eknath Shinde and his son were brought into the open.

MLA Pravin Darekar answered Kadam at a press conference on Friday. He said it was wrong for a responsible leader like Kadam to speak in such an irresponsible way. Darekar said it would also come out who had been backing Jarange from behind the scenes and who had been trying to defame Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. If the BJP is blamed, he warned, it will reply in the same coin. He also asked whether the attack on the BJP was a strategic decision, noting that Kadam, Uday Samant and Pratap Sarnaik were all speaking in one voice.

Meanwhile, Jarange Patil is holding a press conference every day, which is keeping the atmosphere between the two parties hot. Both sides are levelling charges and appear to be trying to outdo each other. Tension inside the Mahayuti has visibly risen.

Shrikant Shinde, through whom the money is claimed to have been paid, has not come forward even once to give his side. Political circles are waiting to see when he will respond, and his silence has only added to the talk. The clip has dented his image. It has also hurt the image of Eknath Shinde, who has emerged as a Maratha leader in the last few years, and Shiv Sena leaders are angry that such allegations have been made against their top leader.