THE BATTLE FOR SUPREMACY SENA

THE PEOPLE’S VOTE WILL DECIDE WHO RULES MAHARASHTRA-BUT ALSO WHETHER THACKERAY OR SHINDE’S PARTY IS THE REAL SHIV SENA

- Dhaval S. Kulkarni

FOR ALMOST SIX DECADES IN Mumbai, the slogan, Avaaz kunacha? (Whose writ runs here?) has been met with a resounding reply-'Shiv Senacha (the Shiv Sena's)'-signifying the party's dominance over the country's financial capital and swathes of Maharashtra. This assembly election will answer a more pointed question-which Shiv Sena?

In June 2022, Eknath Shinde and his 39 legislators split the parent party and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) regime to form a government in alliance with the BJP. The subsequent legal battle saw the Shiv Sena name and bow-and-arrow symbol being handed over to Shinde. However, the Thackeray brand, seen as synonymous with the party's identity, stayed with the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray).

The Lok Sabha election was supposed to settle the question of who ran the 'real Shiv Sena', but with SS(UBT) getting nine seats and Shinde's Sena seven, it was a draw of sorts. A key point: the Thackeray Sena saw its core Marathi vote split. The shortfall was made good, thanks to allies Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), by the near-total transfer of Muslim votes to it, especially in Mumbai-a far cry from the days of late party supremo Bal Thackeray, given his aggressive Hindutva and the Sena's many frictions with the minority community.