Sudden movements in Mumbai – Is Sharad Pawar preparing to throw Uddhav Thackrey out?

The response of Maharashtra government in fight against Coronavirus has been disastrous, and this has resulted in the state accounting for around one third of country’s total cases and almost half of total deaths, with less than 10 percent of country’s total population. The positivity rate is as high as 12 percent- the only state with double digit positivity rate, so “test test test” idiots cannot argue that Maharashtra has more cases because it is testing more.

The failure of Uddhav Thackeray led Maharashtra government has created a political turmoil in the three party alliance government. Since the last few weeks, Sharad Pawar, the Grand Old Man of Maharashtra’s politics who crafted the nearly impossible alliance, has become hyperactive in mainstream media and social media.

Whenever Pawar meets CM Uddhav Thackeray and discusses the policies to be implemented in the state, he tweets instantly about the development and tells the audience about what he has asked to be done, leaving no chance to show who wields the power behind the throne of Maharashtra. After the government takes decision to implement the policies suggested by him, Pawar again tweets that the government has taken steps on his suggestions, and his words are the executive orders for the Uddhav Thackeray government.

Long twitter threads to inform the audience in detail about his suggestions, like the one attached above, by a person like Pawar who has not been very media or social media friendly, is very unusual. Moreover, this is a post- government formation trend and Pawar used to tweet very rarely before NCP formed the government in alliance with Congress and Shiv Sena.

Shiv Sena is already on the backfoot due to the failure of the state to contain Coronavirus spread under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. Yesterday BJP leader Narayan Rane met the state governor and demanded President’s rule in the state given failure of government.

Earlier Maharashtra governor called CM Uddhav Thackeray for a meet to discuss the pandemic situation but the Maharashtra CM sent his PA instead. After which the governor called Sharad Pawar who visited Governor House and held meet of more than an hour. This is has started speculation whether NCP is willing to dump Shiv Sena in order to make a government with BJP. However, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut tried to calm the speculations and tweeted, “Sharad Pawar and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray met at Matoshri yesterday evening. The two leaders had a discussion for an hour and a half. If anyone is spreading news about the stability of the government, it is their stomach ache. The government is strong. No worries. Jai Maharashtra!!”

But his tweet has not ended the speculations. In the last few days, Sharad Pawar has tried to side with Modi government on many issues and had presented contrary opinions to that of Uddhav Thackeray.

Maharashtra CM is of the view that lockdown should be extended to contain the virus but Sharad Pawar said that opening the big cities is the need of the hour to protect the economy. “So far, Mumbai is the hardest hit city in the Covid-19 outbreak and the prolonged lockdown conditions. It has severely impacted the economy of Maharashtra and may have detrimental consequences on the Indian economy if not addressed urgently,” wrote Pawar.

Later he played the role of big brother in the stand-off between Union Railway minister Piyush Goyal and Uddhav Thackeray and said that Maharashtra CM has assured him for cooperation with central government.

In the last few days, Pawar has held a series of meetings with Uddhav Thackeray and top civil servants of the state. He also held meeting with the Governor and talked to Union government officials. In short, now he is leading the state’s fight against the virus after the failure of Uddhav Thackeray and if he is able to give some positive results, it would give opportunity to dump Shiv Sena and go with BJP, blaming the leadership skills of Thackeray during the pandemic.