An unholy alliance built on compromised moral values and tarnished political ideologies was always destined for doom. Maha Vikas Aghadi, the unholy alliance in question has been marred by the recent spate of controversies with Sachin Vaze, Parambir Singh and Anil Deshmukh being the destructors-in-chief. Shielding the mafia and ‘hafta’ collecting police officers and indulging in state sponsored terrorism – the MVA has lost its face completely and the direct repercussion will be the elections to the richest municipality in the country, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, scheduled to be held in 2022.
It looks certain that BJP will be the biggest beneficiary of the mess created by the three corrupt parties. In the previous BMC elections, the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance won 179 seats whereas Congress and NCP won 31 and 21 seats respectively.
Shiv Sena has never been strong in BMC and has always relied on BJP to form the majority. As for the MVA, the parties have already given an indication that each one of them will be fighting solo. Congress had given signals of ditching the alliance back in December last year when Sanjay Raut, the Shiv Sena motormouth, had called opposition at the Centre and Congress “weak and ineffective”.
The seal of approval came in February when Nana Patole, the Congress’ newly appointed Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee president asserted that Congress was indeed heading alone into the polls
Read more: Congress would walk out of the Aghadi alliance before BMC elections because too much is at stake
The party has left out of many decisions that have been taken by the Sena and the NCP, and has not hesitated to express its disappointment. It has also found itself at variance with its partners on some crucial issues.
NCP, on the other hand, lead by its supremo Sharad Pawar will not be yielding an inch to Shiv Sena, with which the tussle over Anil Deshmukh is expected to reach a fitting crescendo in the coming days.
Thus with Congress and NCP gone, Shiv Sena will have a hard time clearing its name of the malfeasance it has created in the state. The anger of the public against all three parties will indirectly benefit BJP.
Since being unceremoniously shunted out of office by Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh, Param Bir Singh has waged a war against the MVA as in an explosive letter to Uddhav Thackeray, Singh alleged that Deshmukh directed tainted and suspended cop Sachin Vaze to collect close to Rs.100 crore rupees for him every month.
Read More: Sharad Pawar left with no answers as he gets caught lying while trying to save Anil Deshmukh
This has reignited the fears that the dreaded ‘hafta vasooli’ culture has made a grand comeback in Maharashtra, and seems to be flourishing under the rule of the NCP-Congress-Shiv Sena combine. Singh’s allegations are serious – a fact seconded by NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. While Param Bir Singh officially reported to Anil Deshmukh, CM Uddhav Thackeray should have ideally been aware of such a massive scale of extortion taking place under his leadership and government. The public has seen the entire charade of events unfolding before its eyes and the uncanny resemblance to the ‘Bombay underworld of 90s’ has left a queasy feeling amongst the ordinary folks of Mumbai.
On top of the corruption and terrorism mess, the MVA has fallen spectacularly in handling the COVID pandemic as well. While the first wave was dealt by Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress combine with much huffing and puffing, and after receiving multiple round of help from the centre, the second wave has been entirely the doing of MVA.
The government has failed to instil the basic civic sense amongst the public and has been lax in the way it has been going about its business. The recent decision of Uddhav Thackeray to test anyone in Mumbai without their consent is the perfect microcosm example, as to what is exactly wrong with the MVA.
NCP which is known as a western Maharashtra Party only and has a minimal presence in Mumbai was earlier relying on Congress and Shiv Sena to do the batting for it in the BMC elections. However, with an alliance looking highly unlikely at this point, Sharad P{awar and his team have a tricky road ahead.
Moreover, the biggest point that goes in BJP’s favour is that the voters of Maharashtra had chosen Shiv Sena-BJP to represent itself in the state assembly. NCP and Congress were out rightly rejected. However, Shiv Sena, taking an entire volta face on its existence and core fundamental beliefs made bed with the two parties and the rest is for everyone to see. The people of Mumbai will now have the opportunity to vote solely for BJP and make amends to their mistake.
Thus, the coming election season in Maharashtra could very well be the death knell for the MVA, which to begin with has already lasted a tad bit longer than what many had predicted.