Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, June 23: With the rebel group claiming to have the support of more than two-third members of the Shiv Sena Legislature Party in the Maharashtra Assembly, the survival of the three-party Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by the Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray seems to be only matter of time.
A desperate Shiv Sena on Thursday offered to “consider” the demands of the rebels led by Eknath Shinde to walk out of the MVA, in which the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress are the alliance partners, but set a condition that the rebels presently camping in a hotel in Guwahati, the capital city of the BJP-controlled Assam, must return to Mumbai within 24 hours.
Though it is a huge climb down considering that Thackeray till Wednesday had refused to pay any heed to join hands with the BJP as demanded by the rebels, but Shinde so far has refused to budge. The climb down is believed to has been caused by further erosion in the Sena ranks with at least four more Sena MLAs including minister Gulab Rao Patil flew in to Guwahati to join the rebel camps even though two MLAs, Kailas Patil and Nitin Deshmukh left the rebel camp and return to Mumbai to join the Thackeray fold. Besides MLAs, at least four Sena MPs and a large number of present and former corporators and other leaders also extended support to Shinde. The rebel camp presently claim the support of 41 Sena MLAs out of 55 in the state Assembly.
“We are ready to walk out of MVA) government in Maharashtra, but party rebels should return to Mumbai (from Guwahati) in 24 hours,” Sanjay Raut, who is Shiv Sena’s chief spokesperson, said. Raut said the MLAs should “discuss the issue with Chief Minister and added, “Don’t write letters on Twitter and WhatsApp”.
After holding internal meetings, the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s party – the alliance partners of Shiv Sena in Maharashtra – said they were with Thackeray. “We will fight together. The MVA will stay together,” senior Congress leader Mallikarjun Kharge said.
Shinde has demanded that the Sena break is alliance with the Congress and the NCP, saying the Sena leaders suffered the most in the last two-and-a-half years of the coalition’s rule. The MLAs have booked the hotel in Guwahati for a week, indicating they are prepared for the long haul.
The rebel MLAs have also accused Thackeray of “shutting” his doors at them while the NCP and the Congress flourished. “We were denied entry to the Chief Minister’s house for 2.5 years,” wrote Sanjay Shirsat, one of the MLAs in Guwahati with the rebels.
Deepak Kesarkar, the latest to join the party’s rebel camp, said no one wanted Uddhav Thackeray to resign as Chief Minister of Maharashtra. “Instead, we want him to get into an alliance with the BJP and form a new government with a natural ally,” he said.
“As of yesterday (Eknath) Shinde had 37 Shiv Sena MLAs. Today I along with three others from Shiv Sena and one independent MLA reached here. Two to three are expected to reach in the next few hours,” Kesarkar said.
The ground reality is Thackeray is reduced to a minority in the party founded and led for decades by his father, Bal Thackeray. Only 13 MLAs were present at a meeting called by him on Thursday. Raut, however, held a different opinion. “When they (the MLAs) come to Mumbai, you will get to know, (it) will soon be revealed, in what circumstances, pressure these MLAs left us,” said Raut.
On Wednesday, Thackeray made an emotional address to rebels. “If my own people don’t want me as Chief Minister, he should walk up to me and say so… I’m ready to resign… I am Balasaheb’s son, I am not after a post”.
The BJP, accused of conducting another “Operation Lotus” in Maharashtra to destabilise the Sena-led MVA government, however, claimed that the current political crisis in Maharashtra was the Shiv Sena’s “internal matter.” “We haven’t spoken to Eknath Shinde. BJP has nothing to do with this. We’re not staking claim to form the government,” said Union Minister Raosaheb Patil Danve after meeting party leader Devendra Fadnavis.
Raut while challenging Shinde for a floor test in the assembly, said the rebels’ chance to return to the Sena was not lost. On their demand that Shiv Sena should break up with the NCP and Congress to form a government with the BJP, Raut said, “You (the rebels) should merge with the BJP. Shiv Sena remains our party.”
Raut responded combatively to the question if Uddhav Thackeray will remain the chief minister: “Let all the MLAs come to the floor of the House. We will see then. These MLAs who have left… they will find it difficult to return and move around in Maharashtra.” On whether talks were still on with the rebels, Mr Raut said, “They are all our friends… We don’t know what their compulsions are. The party and the state are with Uddhav Thackeray. Just because some MLAs have left does not mean the party is gone.”
In the times of Balasaheb Thackeray, too, a lot of people left the party,” he said, referring to Uddhav Thackeray’s father, party founder Bal Thackeray. “We rebuilt the party and brought it to power then too. And now this is an open challenge for Uddhav ji and me, that we will rebuild the party again; and we will again come to power.”
He also responded to the Shinde camp’s allegations that the chief minister’s house ‘Varsha’ remained out of bounds for party legislators: “These are just excuses. For a year there were Covid restrictions; and then Chief Minister Thackeray was unwell for six months.”
Raut said Shinde was part of every decision in the party and the government. “In the party and the state cabinet, he was given important posts so that he would keep the leaders and workers together. Uddhav-ji or he alone could not do everything; it was a collective responsibility. Instead of doing his duty, he created a division in the party.”
He said he would reiterate Thackeray’s stance that “whoever wants to leave, can leave, but go and win the election again”. “This land belongs to Shiv Sena and Balasaheb… We will rise again like the phoenix and soar. We have seen several struggles in the last 56 years. What’s the worst that can happen?”
“Maybe we will lose the government, lose power, lose ministerial posts — what else can happen in politics? You will misuse the ED (Enforcement Directorate) and CBI (Central Bureau of Investigation) against us, put us in jail… what more? Will you shoot us? We have seen everything and we fear nothing,” Raut said.
Support for Thackeray in the Sena rank and fold was evident on Wednesday night when millions of Sena workers lined up on two sides of the road as Thackeray left the chief minister’s official residence “Varsha” in South Mumbai and headed for his ancestral home “Matoshree” in suburban Bandra with all his bags and baggage and all family members.
Following Thackeray’s public address on Wednesday, the NCP chief Sharad Pawar along with Baramati Lok Sabha MP Supriya Sule, Maharashtra Housing Minister Jitendra Awhad and State unit chief Jayant Patil held a meeting with him. Both the NCP and the Congress have called all their MLAs to Mumbai to solidly back Thackeray and both the parties claimed that their ranks were intact.
Kamal Nath, All India Congress Committee (AICC) observer in Maharashtra, stressed that there was complete unity within the Maharashtra Congress, adding that both his party and the NCP stood firmly behind Thackeray. “There is complete unity within the Maharashtra Congress. Forty-one of the 44 MLAs were present during my meeting with them. The others are en route. I have spoken with Uddhav Thackeray over phone and could not meet him personally as he has tested COVID-19 positive. I have assured him that the Congress will keep supporting the MVA,” he said. “I have spoken with Sharad Pawar. He, too, has said that the NCP fully supports the Thackeray government.”
“The BJP played the same tricks in Madhya Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Jharkhand. Their corrupt politics of luring MLAs from other parties by offering money and political inducements is playing with the principles of our Constitution. I am confident that under Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership, unity will prevail within the Sena,” Nath said.