JOIN USCM Uddhav Thackeray fires non-stop, BJP strikes back in Maharashtra tit for tat
It has been one and a half years since Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena president, broke ties with the BJP, its saffron ally of three decades, and forged an alliance with the ideologically opposite Congress-NCP Democratic Front.
The association in fact collapsed on October 24, 2019, when the results of the Vidhan Sabha polls indicated that it would be tough for the BJP to form a government on its own. What followed was a one-month drama at the end of which Thackeray became the chief minister of Maharashtra on November 28, thanks to the skills of veteran leader Sharad Pawar, who forged the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress alliance known as the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).
Uddhav’s father, the late charismatic leader and master orator Balasahab Thackeray was a close friend of Pawar, a four-time chief minister and three-time Union minister.
From day one, the Thackeray government had been at loggerheads with the Centre. It left no stone unturned to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah. In fact, Uddhav — like his West Bengal counterpart and Trinamool chief Mamata Banerjee — has been leading the charge against the Centre.
The BJP top brass in Maharashtra — including Leader of Opposition in Assembly Devendra Fadnavis, his counterpart in the Council Pravin Darekar, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil and leaders like Sudhir Mungantiwar, Kirit Somaiya, Ashish Shelar and Prasad Lad — is keeping a close watch on the government's every move. In fact, Operation Lotus (the BJP's move to poach legislators from other parties) took off the day the MVA dispensation assumed office. And it's been around 17 months now.
Timeline of trouble
The troubles date back to October-November 2019, when the Governor recommended President’s rule in the state. While the Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress and its allies were giving final touches to the MVA, the Governor quietly sworn in Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar as CM and Deputy CM. However, the government soon collapsed and Ajit Pawar was back to his uncle Sharad Pawar’s fold.
Maharashtra has never a situation like this before: There are clashes with the Centre on a regular basis, and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic has only made things worse. “Despite several crises, attacks by BJP leaders and negative campaigns on social media platforms, Uddhav has taken the Modi-Shah duo upfront, and perhaps knowing the consequences too,” said veteran journalist and writer Prakash Akolkar, an expert on Shiv Sena.
There are almost a dozen instances when the MVA-BJP war of words reached a flashpoint — and sometimes a point of no return.
The BJP has repeatedly knocked on the doors of Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, a veteran politician with RSS background, who has served in Uttarakhand as Chief Minister and Leader of Opposition and had been an MLA, MLC and member of the Lok Sabha as well as the Rajya Sabha.
The biggest thorn could be the fact that the MVA government's recommendation for nomination of 12 members to the Council from the Governor’s quota has not yet been cleared by Koshyari. And it is close to six months now. Among those who have been recommended include Eknath Khadse, a veteran BJP leader who joined Pawar’s party, and actor-activist Urmila Matondkar, who joined the Shiv Sena after quitting the Congress more than a year ago.
Thackeray has also never wasted a chance to strike back. He denied the Governor the state government’s aircraft for an official trip to Dehradun. Much to Koshyari's embarrassment, he was deplaned at the Mumbai airport and had to take a commercial flight.
The first flame that triggered the war was the Bhima-Koregaon case. The new government wanted to review it. However, the case was taken over by the NIA.
Another development that rattled the BJP rank and file was the scrapping of the Mumbai Metro Line 3 car shed in the Aarey Milk Colony and its shifting to Kanjur Marg salt pan land by Thackeray, a nature lover and wildlife photographer. It was a blow to Fadnavis, the initiator of this part of the project. “This is ridiculous and childish... you cannot behave like a Maharaja," said Fadnavis, a former chief minister. The Centre’s Department for Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade (DPIIT) raised objections and claimed ownership; the issue is now before the Bombay High Court.
The Centre has accused the Maharashtra government of attempting to derail important projects like the Mumbai-Ahmedabad Bullet Train — the brainchild of Modi — and the proposed Wadhawan port project in Palghar district.
The issue reached a boiling point after the outbreak of the pandemic. In fact, what irritated the MVA was that the BJP started approaching the Governor for every issue, including when the MVA took on actor Kangana Ranaut and news anchor Arnab Goswami.
“The Raj Bhavan has become an extension of the BJP office,” Shiv Sena chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut has said repeatedly.
When temples were closed during the lockdown last year, Koshyari shot off a letter to the CM, questioning whether the latter suddenly turned 'secular'. “I don’t need a certificate on Hindutva from anyone,” Thackeray hit back.
The state has accused the Centre of bias on various issues, including GST dues to the tune of Rs 30,000 crore, PPE kits, ventilators and N95 masks. It also rubbed the Modi government up the wrong way while raising issues like the shortage of oxygen, vaccine and Remdesivir — comparing Maharashtra figures with BJP-ruled Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh.
The Modi-Shah duo managed an upper hand only when they ensured that two ministers — Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Rathod and NCP’s Anil Deshmukh — had to resign following various controversies.
At present, the BJP is training its guns on Shiv Sena’s Anil Parab, the Parliamentary Affairs Minister who is close to Thackeray and played a key role in the formation of the MVA. If the BJP succeeds, it will be a masterstroke.