SHINDE BATTLES ON TWO FRONTS

TEN MONTHS AFTER THE COUP, MAHARASHTRA CM EKNATH SHINDE FINDS THAT HE HAS TO TAKE ON AMBITIOUS ALLY BJP AND FORMER CAMP MATES IN THE THACKERAY-LED SENA

- Dhaval Kulkarni

It has been 10 months since his coup brought down the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, and Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde finds himself fighting a battle on two fronts. Apart from building his party ground-up to counter the Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, Shinde must also contend with the increasing belligerence of his senior ally, the BJP.

Despite the Election Commission of India (ECI) granting Shinde the Shiv Sena name and bow-and-arrow symbol, there are indications that the rank-and-file largely continues to be with his former boss Uddhav Thackeray. The recent assembly byelection results indicate that the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and the larger MVA alliance may enjoy some voter sympathy over the ‘betrayal’ and midnight coup engineered by Shinde and the BJP in June 2022.

For the moment, though, Shinde’s real challenge is the BJP, which spares no opportunity to assert itself and extract its pound of flesh. For instance, Chandrashekhar Bawankule, the BJP Maharashtra president, recently claimed that the party would contest 240 of the state’s 288 assembly seats, leaving just 48 for Shinde. “(We are) planning to contest almost 240 seats in 2024… because Shinde does not have over 50 (candidates),” said Bawankule, while speaking at a closed-door meeting of party functionaries in mid-March. Shinde’s men like MLA Sanjay Shirsat were furious, blasting Bawankule and saying he “did not have the authority” to make such statements. “Are we fools to contest (from just) 48 seats?” he asked. Bawankule later claimed that he had been quoted out of context and that the seat-sharing formula is yet to be decided.