Shiv Sena supremo and Maharashtra CM, Uddhav Thackeray seems to have suffered yet another meltdown which bears uncanny similarity with former Karnataka CM, HD Kumaraswamy’s frequent emotional breakdowns during his Chief Ministerial stint in the Congress-JDS alliance.
In an interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece, Saamana, the Maharashtra Chief Minister has tried to blame the BJP for the BJP-Sena split. Though he had himself severed ties with the BJP, he has now said that “pain and anger is obvious” if somebody breaks a promise.
Talking about forming an alliance with the NCP and the Congress, and eventually becoming the Maharashtra CM, Thackeray said, “No, I did not get any shock.”
Only Uddhav can explain how and why he is trying to take the moral high ground and playing the victim when it was he who had severed ties with the BJP for political gains.
He also tried to drag Shiv Sena Founder, late Balasaheb Thackeray in the interview cum PR campaign, and said, “I am a son of Shiv Sena Pramukh (Balasaheb Thackeray), several people tried to give a shock to me but they didn’t succeed. This is a field where you have to accept in the beginning that there will be a bit pushing and pulling.”
“But I have to say if they had kept their promise what would have happened, what a big deal had I asked for? Did I ask for stars and moon? I only asked for what was decided before Lok Sabha polls, when we decided seat distribution,” he said.
After the Maharashtra Assembly polls, the BJP-Shiv Sena coalition at the time had comfortably crossed the majority mark in the 288-member strong Legislative Assembly, but the Sena had then made unreasonable demands of rotating the Chief Minister’s post and distribution of cabinet berths in an equal proportion. These demands that were made out of the blue were obviously rejected by the BJP.
Uddhav Thackeray who is now the Maharashtra CM seems unable to get over the political stalemate. He is now blaming the BJP for not keeping its “promise” – a unilateral promise that only the Shiv Sena knows and cares about.
With such meltdowns, the Shiv Sena chief, unfortunately, seems to be becoming and embodying a sense of victimhood, something that was seen as peculiar to Kumaraswamy during his forgettable tenure as the Karnataka CM.
Shortly after getting elected, the former Karnataka CM had lamented that he was at the mercy of the Congress. He had said, “mine is not an independent government. I had requested the people to give me a mandate that prevents me from succumbing to any pressure other than you. But today I am at the mercy of the Congress. I am not under the pressure of the 6.5 crore people of the state,” virtually abdicating the obligation of working in the largest interest of Karnataka and its people.
Throughout his tenure, Kumaraswamy had manifested a sense of victimhood exposing his own frailty. In January 2019, he had broken down once again, claiming that he was tolerating harassment from senior Congress leaders keeping the state and party’s interest in mind.
Kumaraswamy had set a very bad precedent by publicly projecting himself as a weak coalition CM. Unfortunately, Uddhav Thackeray seems to be following the inappropriate example set by the former Karnataka CM.
Uddhav Thackeray willingly joined the NCP and the Congress, severing ties with the BJP over a “promise” that the latter did not make in the first place. Now, he cannot get over the political stalemate that had followed the Assembly Elections last year. Kumaraswamy and Uddhav Thackeray, therefore, expose the real face of unholy and unnatural, post-poll coalitions. With this interview, Uddhav Thackeray seems all set to replicate in Maharashtra, the blunders that Kumaraswamy had committed in Karnataka.
