Maharashtra will get the first woman Chief Minister?
Ahead of the elections in Maharashtra, there is a tug of war between the ruling party and the opposition over the post of Chief Minister. Meanwhile, Congress has played a big gamble. Mumbai Congress President and MP Varsha Gaikwad has advocated a woman Chief Minister. Gaekwad said that Maharashtra is a progressive state, yet no woman has become Chief Minister here.
In the 64 years of Maharashtra’s political history, there have been 20 Chief Ministers so far, but not a single one of them has been a woman. Interestingly, six parties have had the chance to rule the state so far, but not a single party has bothered to give the floor to a woman.
Why the demand for a woman Chief Minister in Maharashtra?
Mumbai Congress President Varsha Gaekwad has accelerated this demand. Varsha Gaekwad says that a woman should be given the chief ministership in Maharashtra. Talking to reporters, Varsha said that states like UP, Delhi, Bengal have been ruled by women, but in Maharashtra, women have not yet become Chief Ministers. But why so?
Varsha said that all parties have capable women leaders. Then why is this matter not being considered in progressive Maharashtra? However, this is not the first time that there has been a demand for a woman Chief Minister in Maharashtra.
In 1994, there was a demand for a woman Chief Minister for the first time in Maharashtra. At that time the Sharad Pawar-led Congress brought legislation to determine women’s participation in panchayat and civic elections.
In 2018 too, there was a demand to make a woman Chief Minister in Maharashtra, but then no party paid attention to it.
20 Chief Ministers in 64 years, not a single woman among them
If Bombay Presidency is excluded, Maharashtra has had a total of 20 Chief Ministers since 1960. Yashwant Rao Chavan was the first Chief Minister of divided Maharashtra. Yashwant Rao took over as Chief Minister from Congress.
After this Martrao Kannamwar, PK Sawant, Basantrao Naik, Shankar Rao Chavan, Basant Dada Patil, Sharad Pawar, AR Antule, Baba Saheb Bhosale, Shivaji Rao Patil, Sudhakar Naik, Manohar Joshi, Narayan Rane, Vilasrao Deshmukh, Sushil Shinde, Ashok Shinde . Chavan, Prithviraj Chavan, Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde became Chief Ministers.
Interestingly, in the last 64 years, 6 parties have formed the government in Maharashtra, but no party has made a woman Chief Minister.
Why is the party on the backfoot due to the demand for a woman CM?
1. No female face- Be it NCP or BJP, Shiv Sena or Congress, no party at the state level has a woman face. Male leaders in all the four parties are strong contenders for the post of chief minister.
Supriya Sule’s name was also mooted in NCP (Sharad), but Sule has said that she will only do central politics. Uddhav Thackeray Shiv Sena (Thakrey) and Eknath Shinde Shiv Sena (Shinde) are the chief ministerial contenders.
Similarly, the name of Devendra Fadnavis in BJP and Ajit Pawar in NCP (Ajit) is prominent. Even in the Congress, state president Nana Patole is being considered as a contender for the post of chief minister.
2. Mahila Vote Bank- According to the Election Commission, there are about 92 million voters in Maharashtra. 48 percent of whom are women. That is about Rs. 4.5 crores. According to the record so far in Maharashtra, the average voter turnout of women has been 60 percent.
That means around 2.5 crore women vote in every election, which is critical to make or break the government’s game. To woo these women voters, the current Shinde government is running the Ladli Brahmin Yojana.
In such a situation, if the parties completely reject the demand for a woman CM, their game may be spoiled.
Maharashtra will get the first woman Chief Minister?
Looking at Varsha Gaekwad’s statement and political equation, the question is whether Maharashtra will get its first woman Chief Minister? At present only three parties from the opposition and the opposition have a claim for the post of chief minister in Maharashtra.
In the opposition, Shiv Sena (Thackeray) is demanding the post of chief minister for its leader Uddhav Thackeray. NCP (Sharad) has kept itself away from the candidature. While the opposition Congress is silent about the post of Chief Minister.
Similarly, in the ruling party, Eknath Shinde of Shiv Sena (Shinde) is a contender for the post of Chief Minister. Shinde is still the Chief Minister. BJP and Ajit Pawar’s party are not saying anything openly right now.
Mumbai MP Varsha says becoming a woman CM is not difficult if the parties decide. According to him, there are many women contenders like Rashmi Thackeray (Thackrey) in Shiv Sena, Supriya Sule in NCP (Sharad) and Yashomathi Thakur, Preeti Shinde in Congress.
