Thackeray Dares Shinde-BJP To Hold Mid-Term Polls
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
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By Linus Garg
First publised on 2022-07-04 16:02:34
About the Author
Linus tackles things head-on. He takes sides in his analysis and it fits excellently with our editorial policy. No 'maybe's' and 'allegedly' for him, only things in black and white.
View all posts by this Author
Having lost an overwhelming majority of the MLAs to the Eknath Shinde group (he is left with what is now derisively being called as the Mumbai rump of the Shiv Sena), Uddhav Thackeray has dared the new government to call mid-term elections and let the people decide who should govern Maharashtra. Thackeray has said this because he feels that the Shinde group has reversed the mandate of the people by seizing power. But is that correct?
Originally, it was Uddhav Thackeray who went against both the pre-poll alliance with the BJP and the mandate of the people (who had given a majority to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance) as he had a burning desire to be chief minister. He had his reasons as he said that the BJP went back on its pre-poll promise of having rotating chief ministers for each half of the five year term with Shiv Sena getting the first shot. The BJP denied this and their alliance broke.
Now, if Eknath Shinde and his loyalists accuse Thackeray of having gone against the core Hindutva ideology of the party to ally with the NCP and the Congress just to become the chief minister, they also have their reasons to split the party. These MLAs are worried about the rising clout of the NCP in Maharashtra (except Mumbai and surrounding areas) and if they leave on ideological differences with the parent party, there is little Thackeray can do as he is guilty of having broken the alliance with the BJP.
It is obvious to all observers that Uddhav Thackeray has lost his grip on the party. Back in 2019, he was worried that the BJP was taking over the Sena space in Maharashtra and was becoming stronger at his party's expense. But since 2019, the Sena has lost ground to the NCP and Thackeray is either not aware of it or has kept mum in a bid to save his chair and keep the alliance going. The rebels, most of them from other parts of Maharashtra, saw what was coming and chose to break away as the party leadership was not listening to them. Hence, Thackeray's dare for mid-term elections is entirely due to frustration as he could not do anything when the party split.
