Row over alleged Rs 500 crore audio clip intensifies, all eyes on SIT probe involving Eknath Shinde

A fresh storm has suddenly risen around Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, and at its centre is a question about Rs 500 crore. Shinde leads an important party in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA). He broke away from the Thackeray family and Matoshree and built his own party. The Shiv Sena name and the bow-and-arrow symbol, which belonged to the party Balasaheb founded, are with him today. His party has 13 MPs in the Lok Sabha, and Shinde is regarded as an important pawn in the future political plans of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

Questions are now being asked about where so much money came from, who gave it to whom, and whether it was meant for Manoj Jarange. Jarange was counted among Shinde's admirers, and Shinde had helped him considerably during the agitation. Why, then, does he suddenly appear to be against Shinde? It is also being asked how anyone could handle or carry Rs 500 crore at one time. Even banks' security vans do not carry more than Rs 4 crore to 5 crore at a go. Had someone moved around Maharashtra with a hundred or two hundred vehicles, would they not have been caught?

The link between money and elections is no secret. Spending by candidates and parties has risen sharply over the past 25 years. Earlier, a party worker would run around all day for a candidate on a vada pav. That is no longer so. The burden of vehicles, fuel, food and other arrangements falls on the candidate. So party leaders ask a worker seeking a ticket directly how much he will spend on the election. Some parties even work out the candidate's share in the election fund before giving the symbol.

Five years ago, a winning MLA of a well-known opposition party in the Mumbai region said he had had to spend more than Rs 10 crore in that election. There can be four or five strong candidates on a single seat, and about 200 seats in the state see such a close contest. The Election Commission examines the expenditure records of parties and candidates, but spending that does not appear in those records goes on separately. Remarks such as "the rate for a vote has been fixed at Rs 2,000, we delivered Rs 3,000 to each house" are commonly heard from party workers at election time. Large housing societies, too, see votes bid for in bulk, for instance by building the society's compound wall or paying its municipal tax.

The allegations now are against Shinde. An alleged audio clip has linked the names of Jarange and Shinde in the politics of money. The clip suggests that some BJP leaders are discussing that money was delivered to MP Shrikant Shinde, to be given to Jarange Patil, during preparations for the 2024 Assembly election. Whether the clip is genuine or has been edited, whether AI was used or the conversation is real, and, if it is real, whether those who gave and took the money will come forward: all these questions are now part of the investigation. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has announced that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) has begun the probe.

Recall the period to which the matter is said to relate. Fadnavis was then Deputy Chief Minister in the Mahayuti government, Ajit Pawar was the other Deputy Chief Minister, and Eknath Shinde was Chief Minister. Shinde was Chief Minister for about two and a half years. Uddhav Thackeray before him had got roughly the same length of time. Thackeray became Chief Minister in November 2019 and lost the post at the end of June 2022. Around the time Shinde became Chief Minister, Maratha leader Manoj Jarange Patil of Antarwali Sarati village in Jalna became active.

His demand was that all Marathas be included in the Kunbi caste, that is, be treated as OBC and get the benefit of reservation. For this he undertook a dozen fasts and led marches up to Mumbai. Shinde handled this successfully, and after meeting Shinde, Jarange ended his fasts and wound up the marches.

Five to six months before the 2024 Assembly election, Shinde's Mahayuti government was under strain, because Mahayuti won only 17 seats in the Lok Sabha election, while the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) of the Congress, Sharad Pawar and Thackeray won 31. The picture changed in November 2024. Mahayuti won 235 seats and the MVA was left with only 49 MLAs. There will be many reasons for the difference, and one may be that Jarange Patil's alleged Maratha political party was never formed.

The dominance Jarange built through the agitation in September-October 2024 made him dream of political leadership himself. From August 2024, a crowd of Maratha leaders keen to contest elections had begun gathering at Antarwali Sarati. Seven to eight hundred candidates were interviewed and candidacies were distributed, but at the last moment Jarange said, "We are not getting into this mess." On the day the money is claimed to have been delivered, Jarange set a world record by conducting 800 interviews in 24 hours. He gave no clear answer, then or later, on whether a party would be formed, what its name and symbol would be, or whether to contest as independents. Nominations were filed, and at the point of withdrawal came the announcement that the political plans were being abandoned at Antarwali. Jarange had then given as the reason that the arithmetic of victory was not working out.

After this, a feeling spread among the public that Jarange had betrayed them, and talk of large money transactions began from there. No one understood what happened behind the scenes. With this alleged tape now out, an atmosphere of suspicion has developed within Mahayuti too, and the question is who gained politically. For now, the answer appears to be that the biggest loss has been Mahayuti's own.