Shiv Sena’s blunder: For the first time in the history of sacrifices, the lamb willfully surrendered to the butcher

With political drama in Maharashtra brewing and President’s rule in place, this political struggle to form the government will certainly go down in history as a strange anomaly where despite winning the majority, prepoll coalition of NDA filed too form the government. Leading this disruption is certainly Senior Shiv Sena leader and a close confidant of Sena Supremo, Sanjay Raut, who over the past few days has not only put out Sena’s political ambitions out in the open but also led to a situation which has increasingly turned unfavourable for the Maharashtra based party.

Speculations by political analysts had pointed out that if a non BJP government formation takes place in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena was likely to be giving support to the UPA rather than the other way round where Sena supporters had expected to get support from the UPA. Shiv Sena, which was poised to get DY CM post for the young Aditya Thackeray for 5 years under NDA, is now likely to even struggle for even a honourable closure to these developments.

Shiv Sena’s position in the BMC where it enjoys power might also be in jeopardy, leading to another set back for the already struggling party. That Aditya Thackeray compared the Congress and NCP with Ravana in 2014 and now seeks their support to form government dents the Shiv Sena’s credibility greatly.

The right wing party has been yearning for the support of the ideogically opposite Congress and NCP, and its greedy attempt at power, its betrayal of the Narendra Modi led BJP has not gone unnoticed and voters may even snatch BMC away from the Shiv Sena.

How the Sena skewered its own political standing has been an entertaining disaster to watch. Winning a clear majority in the elections BJP-Shiv Sena alliance with its 161 seats in the 288 seat Maharashtra assembly was certainly poised to retain power with CM Devendra Fadnavis continuing for his second term. However, for the Sena, despite being a junior partner in the alliance with just half (56) the seats compared to its alliance partner the BJP (105), ambitions have pushed the Maharashtra based party to demand a larger cut of the cake.

The Shiv Sena demanded that Aaditya Thackeray, son of Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray be made Chief Minister for 2.5 years in a BJP led NDA government. To this, BJP stood firm and held that former CM Devendra Fadnavis shall be CM for all five years if BJP, the single largest party, forms government. Thereafter, Shiv Sena, a right-leaning political party has been pushing to form an alliance with the polar opposite NCP and the Congress.

Shiv Sena had also claimed that shared CM office was a pre-poll agreement; However, BJP categorically denied any such agreement. Pointing towards the same, Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, had said “I spoke to Amit Shah on the claims of the Sena that there was such an agreement. He said that there was no such agreement.’ In an interview to the run up to the elections, BJP Chief Amit Shah had also pointed towards and said “there has been no decision on this type of formula (referring to shared CM post for 2.5 years each.)

With the resignation of Shiv Sena MP Arvind Ganpat Sawant from the cabinet, the cycle for a new political equation between the BJP and the NDA has certainly started. Moreover, for Shiv Sena any move to join hands with the NCP and Congress is surely a very risky bet, which can not only lead to massive migration of pro-Hindutva voices from the Sena but also might prove the final nail in the coffin of the party which has been struggling to find its identity since the demise of Balasaheb Thackeray. All through this while, the BJP has remained eerily silent and timid.

There could indeed be more benefit in sitting back and watching the Sena obliterate itself out of its own greed as no better outcome, as that seen in the case of the Congress-JDS alliance in Karnataka, is expected from a Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena’s failure to gather support has made way for the President rule, subjecting it to further ridicule.

The majority of the voters who backed Maha Yuti are ardently anti-Congress and anti-NCP. They have been opposed to the regime of Congress-NCP which ruled the state for 15 years before Modi led BJP defeated them in 2014. If Shiv Sena goes with the Congress-NCP alliance to form the government and negotiate partial CM chair; the people of Maharashtra are sure to react to this blatant desecration of the mandate.

The developments over the past few days have certainly given Shiv Sena a food for thought that if they require leaders like Sanjay Raut who have turned the party into a laughing stock for many. Moreover, even if the Shiv Sena is successful in getting back to the NDA, the damage caused due to the actions of few in Shiv Sena are sure to haunt the party for long.