A carefully crafted plan is in operation to create confusion in public about which political string is attached where as regards the Antilia case, in an attempt to save the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government from an implosion. The entire drama being played out in the ruling combine may even be an outcome of silent internal tensions between two of the three MVA constituents, namely Shiv Sena (SS) and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) whose bigwigs are engaged in a cut-throat game of one-upmanship, knowledgeable sources suspect. Even though the Param Bir Singh letter accuses Home Minister Anil Deshmukh of trying to use unofficial services of Sachin Waze for extortion of huge amounts of money, political observers insist that the tainted low-level police officer with the rank of Assistant Police Inspector is actually an open sympathiser of Shiv Sena and has been working for the party directly or indirectly.

 

Citing the internal rivalry between Shiv Sena and NCP, the sources assert that the letter by the top cop has had the blessings of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray. Even though all stakeholders seem to ask for an impartial investigation into the whole episode, sources suspect that the current tensions may eventually lead to the collapse of the MVA when in due course of time the constituents would no longer be able to stand one another’s company in the Government. “A short-term self-interest might have brought them together to form the ruling combine, but none of the three constituent parties has any vision or philosophy to provide people-oriented governance to the State.

 

Because every constituent kept itself engaged in amassing money through whatever means, the attention was never focused on running the Government. That is the reason why men like Sachin Waze became extra-constitutional operatives to fulfil the bidding of their political bosses,” a retired Intelligence officer said. Even as most leaders, whether from the ruling combine or from the Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ask for an indepth probe into the episode, they seem to point to certain unnamed important personalities in Government with a rather undue influence on the system weighed down with corruption, impartial observers across political divides suspect. Meanwhile, “no comment” was the stock answer Param Bir Singh is stated to have given to a few probing questions from the reporter of a television network. In the course of the last 36 hours, Param Bir Singh has also not denied the existence of the letter either.

 

This silence from his side almost confirms the veracity of the letter and its damning contents that make serious allegations on various points other than the plan of extortion of one hundred crore rupees. As statements and counter-statements flood the scene, political observers suggest that everybody in the MVA is harbouring a strong suspicion about everybody else in the ruling combine. It may be a political miracle if the MVA Government survives this crisis of character and mutual confidence, most sources feel.