The Shiv Sena is suffering from a false sense of bravado as concerns grow over Uddhav Thackeray’s sanity as he is adamant on demanding the Chief Minister’s post from the BJP despite the Maharashtra mandate in favour of a Devendra Fadnavis led alliance. Thackeray thinks that it is payback time as he feels he was humiliated post the 2014 Maharashtra elections. The BJP back then had called the Shiv Sena’s bluff which prompted the latter to get into an unconditional alliance with the BJP. The BJP, one more time, is determined to call Sena’s bluff albeit this time around, it will end up splitting the Shiv Sena if Uddhav Thackeray does not back down.
Post results, the Sena has showcased its true intentions and asked for a rotational CM which will see the inexperienced Aaditya Thackeray becoming the CM for 2.5 years. But Fadnavis has boldly maintained and stated yet again that he shall be the Chief Minister for the whole of 5 years, while a BJP MP has said that they are in touch with 45 Sena MLAs, a signal that should send shivers down Uddhav Thackeray’s spine.
BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Kakade claimed that “45 newly-elected MLAs in Shiv Sena are in touch with Chief Minister and want alliance government to be formed. I think a few of these 45 MLAs will convince Uddhav Thackeray and form a government with Devendra Fadnavis as CM. I don’t think there is any other option.“
He went on to add that, “Out of 56, there are 45 MLAs who have expressed their interest in government formation along with the BJP. They are calling and asking us to induct them into the government.” The BJP leader further said that the Shiv Sena MLAs have been saying “do whatever, but we want to be part of the government with BJP”. The BJP MP’s claims come at a time when the Shiv Sena warned the BJP to not “compel” it to look for other options.
Kakade’s claims have been further backed by ThePrint as highly reliable sources have reportedly confirmed that 24 Sena MLAs are ready to jump the ship to the BJP if Uddhav Thackeray sticks to his stand and not join the government. “Why to take such a grandiose stand when Uddhavji himself knows that ultimately we have to go with the BJP,” a senior Shiv Sena leader who was a minister in the previous government told ThePrint.
“If Uddhavji decides to stay out of power, at least 24 MLAs will join the BJP. We are not in the mood to sit in Opposition.“We were very clear then, we are very clear now,” said the Shiv Sena leader who is likely to lead the rebellion.
The recently concluded Maharashtra elections saw the ‘Mahayuti’ of BJP and Shiv Sena comfortably crossing the majority mark with BJP securing 105 seats and the Sena securing 56 seats. While both the parties saw a dip in their tally compared to 2014, the BJP greatly improved its strike rate because it fought in 150 odd seats.
Some of the Sena MLAs are more loyal to Devendra Fadnavis as most of them have been a part of the Fadnavis administration and want to continue to enjoy power. In 2014, the BJP broke the 15-year rule of Congress-NCP alliance and Sena MLAs were desperate to join the government which eventually forced Uddhav Thackeray to soften his stance. It is a given that no Sena MLA would want to sit in the opposition despite being a part of the winning alliance.
There were murmurs that Shiv Sena would be open to joining hands with ideologically opposite Congress and NCP if that is what it takes to make Aaditya Thackeray the Chief Minister. Shiv Sena’s very own ‘Mani Shankar Aiyer’, Sanjay Raut has been spreading vitriol against PM Modi and his government in Shiv Sena’ mouthpiece Saamna and during the run-up to elections has tweeted in favour of Sharad Pawar. While Pawar has categorically denied any possibility of an alliance with Shiv Sena, if the latter still decides to go ahead with ideologically opposite parties Congress and NCP, it will only vertically split Shiv Sena.
Fadnavis has stated that the party doesn’t give importance to motormouths like Sanjay Raut but his tweet showing the Sena’s Tiger holding the BJP’s Lotus was seen as distasteful. It seems that Uddhav only reads Saamna and would be better advised to keep in touch with the ground reality where most of his MLAs are ready to jump the ship. Uddhav seems to be in a world of his own, thanks to the laughable bravado that Raut regularly displays in Saamna. In reality, Shiv Sena is nothing but a paper tiger with Aaditya being inept of leading the state which was evident from his support to the hypocritical Aarey protest. Perhaps this is the last straw and Amit Shah is all set to bin the Shiv Sena and reduce it to the state of Chandrababu led Telugu Desam Party, if it decides abandon the alliance.