In a major jolt to Shiv Sena, 400 party workers have reportedly joined the BJP at an event in Dharavi on Wednesday. The reason behind this exodus is the disillusionment with the Shiv Sena supremo Uddhav Thackeray as he stitched an alliance with ideological rivals- the NCP and the Congress.
Ramesh Nadar, Sena leader who was heading the delegation of people joining BJP said, “I was working with Shiv Sena for 10 years. We were supporting the Hindutva ideology of Sena. I was given an office to serve people but as Sena has decided to form the government with NCP and Congress, it is not acceptable to us. Now, we all have decided to join BJP.”
The Shiv Sena is, therefore, facing a major crisis at the ground, ideological level. Unfortunately for Uddhav Thackeray, this sense of disillusionment within the party is only going to exacerbate from here as several reports suggest that NCP is going to get hold of key Home and Finance portfolios in the coalition government, while Ajit Pawar is eyeing the deputy CM post. Moreover, NCP may also get hold of other key portfolios such as Power and Forest & Environment.
The fact remains that the primary object for Shiv Sena leadership was to get the CM chair out of this coalition. This was the main reason behind Shiv Sena parting its ways with the BJP. Uddhav Thackeray has got the CM chair and he is content with it, however, others may not be content with the leftover, insignificant portfolios that they will be getting.
Besides this, Shiv Sena is likely going to get 16 cabinet berths including the CM chair, while the NCP is also going to get 15 berths in the cabinet. Even the Congress will be getting hold of 12 ministries. This virtually translates into fewer cabinet berths for the NCP. Due to three-way division of portfolios, the Shiv Sena might end up with fewer portfolios than what it would have been able to get had it formed a government with the BIP. This virtually means that several Shiv Sena MLAs who would have been hopeful of becoming ministers would now be left without portfolios. This contentious division of ministries among the three parties is the reason why the cabinet has still not been finalised and reports suggest there is huge unrest in the Maha Vikas Aghadi.
The Shiv Sena is set to face almost unmanageable resentment within its cadres and its MLAs. A major exodus of Shiv Sainiks took place on Wednesday and this is only going to get worse from here.
