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.
Denne historien er fra August 25, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra August 25, 2024-utgaven av THE WEEK India.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Two-horse race
Can the NC-Congress alliance reshape the future of Jammu and Kashmir?
Man-eaters don't spare women
Critics say Narendra Modi’s decade-long rule has been one of jobless growth. Factories produced more, companies earned more, owners profited more, the government earned more; but fewer hands were hired, or those who were hired got work for fewer days. Putting the last two together, economists said the Indian economy generated fewer ‘man-days’.
Decolonising the mindset
The vision of a Viksit Bharat hinges on India T breaking from the shackles of a colonial mindset and embodying the freedom of being unapologetically Indian. The laws of any nation are the cornerstone of its growth. The legal system offers the stability and adaptability essential for a country to thrive. The laws must be simple to understand and specific in their consequence.
The making of India's Mr Difficult Words
When my publishers at Aleph invited me to put together a book on words and language, I hesitated for a brief moment.
Couture's creepy corridors
If one is spending a summer in New York, any summer in New York, an absolute must-do is to spend an afternoon at the city’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, on the edge of Central Park, just gawking in gobsmacked awe at the annual fashion exhibition the museum’s Costume Institute puts together.
Stree 2 has given us hope
The unprecedented success of Stree 2 is the best news we have had in the recent times and with an unabashedly feminist agenda, has comprehensively out-performed Sandeep Reddy Vanga's toxic masculine star-studded Animal at the box office is (to me, at least) kind of the cinematic equivalent of Awadhesh Prasad winning Ayodhya-it redeems my faith in the inherent decency of Indians.
BRANDS BEYOND RAMPS
Whether through carpets, fragrances or home interiors, Indian couturiers are defying their own limits
RESERVOIR OF WORRIES
India has a robust dam management systém on paper, but inadequate maintenance and climate change pose serious threats
INTER-STATE ISSUES HAVE NO EFFECT ON DAM SAFETY
INTERVIEW: KUSHVINDER VOHRA INTERVIEW Chairman, Central Water Commission
DAMS SHOULD BECOME ONE OF THE WAYS TO MITIGATE CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACT
INTERVIEW - ERIC HALPIN dam and levee consultant
