KNIVES ARE OUT

Even as Uddhav Thackeray sharpens his attack on the BJP and the government, his ally, the Congress, hopes it will be the single largest party post polls

- DNYANESH JATHAR

A couple of weeks ago, Uddhav Thackeray, president of the Shiv Sena (UBT) gave a fiery speech to party workers in Mumbai, in which he initiated a no-holds-barred attack on the BJP and Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis. "Either I will finish you [politically] or I will get finished," said Uddhav, indicating that his attacks on the BJP and the Mahayuti government are going to become fiercer as the assembly polls, scheduled to be held in October, gets closer.

In another rally, at Pune, Uddhav called Union Home Minister Amit Shah a political descendent of Afghan king Ahmad Shah Abdali, who defeated the Marathas in the Third Battle of Panipat in 1761. This comment was a retort, probably, to how BJP leaders describe Uddhav― Janaab Uddhav and follower of Aurganzeb.

The opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi, comprising the Congress, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar), is high on aggression following its success in the Lok Sabha elections, when it won 30 of 48 seats. This translates to 160 assembly segments (the Mahayuti-the BJP, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde's Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP-was ahead in the remaining 128).

The result evidently boosted the confidence of the MVA leadership.

The Congress and the Shiv Sena (UBT), especially, are saying "this (Shinde) government has just two months left".

Fadnavis has urged his party's workers to work hard for two months to ensure that the saffron alliance wins 200 seats. Shinde and Pawar, too, are telling karyakartas that their government has a good chance of returning to power.

It is clear that the next assembly election will be a fight to the finish.

The stakes are high for Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray and Sharad Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule as they will have to once again prove that their parties are the original Shiv Sena and NCP, respectively.