Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Nov 11: Formalising and further strengthening the equation that was initially worked out only for convenience to keep the BJP at bay, Aaditya Thackeray, the son of the former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, on Friday joined the Bharat Jodo Yatra and walked alongside the Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on the Maharashtra leg of Kanyakumari to Kashmir foot-march across the country.
Joining of Aaditya and some other leaders of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of Shiv Sena in the Yatra stamped the bond the three parties had bound themselves two and half years ago to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in Maharashtra to keep the BJP away from power in the state.
The MVA ministry, however, was dislodged by the BJP with the help of the Sena rebels led by the incumbent chief minister Eknath Shinde, but Thackerays showed that despite being ousted from power, they were loyal to the MVA commitment. The third partner of the MVA, the Nationalist Congress Party, had also joined the Yatra on Thursday as the party MP Supriya Sule and other NCP leaders walked with Rahul. The NCP president Sharad Pawar had also expressed his desire to join the yatra but could not due to his ill health.
Aaditya, himself a former minister, his party colleague and the leader of the opposition in the state Legislative Council Ambadas Danve, former MLA Sachin Ahir and some other Sena (Thackeray faction) leaders, joined the ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ at Kalamnuri in Maharashtra’s Hingoli. The two leaders walked side by side while waving to the people lining the way. Party Chief Uddhav Thackeray has also been invited to take part in the march during its Maharashtra leg.
The cross-country foot-march has entered its 65th day. The gesture signals closeness between the two parties, with different ideologies, which agreed on a common minimum program to form the now-removed Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra.
Several prominent leaders have participated in the Rahul Gandhi-led march so far. The Congress party has consistently maintained that anyone who agrees with the message of the Yatra — to stand in solidarity with people from different communities across the country — can join them. Rahul Gandhi has also been attacking the BJP-led state government on Maharashtra losing some big projects to other states — an issue that Aaditya Thackeray has been consistently raising.
Aditya Thackeray and Rahul Gandhi have come together at a time when a new government in the state will contest its first poll after the Shiv Sena split and BJP backing rebels to bring down the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. With the civic body polls (BMC) and other Municipal Corporation elections ahead, Aditya Thackeray’s visit could mean that the two parties will contest these elections in an alliance.
When Chief Minister Eknath Shinde rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray, he cited the alliance with Congress and NCP as one of the reasons to do so. In spite of the big political setback, it’s noteworthy that Aaditya Thackeray has publicly reaffirmed his party’s relationship with the Congress, hinting at an ideological shift in the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).
Flowers were showered on the participants in Seni village in Nanded’s Ardhapur taluka, with the march entering Hingoli district at Choramba Phata.
In Hingoli, a group of people who arrived to cheer the march, including many women and children, even brought an elephant along. Among those who stood along the route and shouted slogans in support of the march and sought implementation of ‘One Rank One Pension’ (ORO) were 22 former servicemen.
Rahul Gandhi, who has been leading the campaign, entered Maharashtra via Deglur in Nanded from neighbouring Telangana on Monday night. Veteran Congress leader KC Venugopal, Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole, Mumbai party chief Bhai Jagtap, Naseem Khan, Vishwajit Kadam, and other party leaders are also participating in the foot march along with Gandhi.
The ‘Bharat Jodo Yatra’ began on September 7 from Kanyakumari and has so far covered Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana.
In Maharashtra, the party workers are set to cover 382 km across five districts and traverse through 15 Assembly and six parliamentary constituencies before entering Madhya Pradesh on November 20.