Saving chair 1st of many challenges for Uddhav
MUMBAI: Bandu Shingre, Dr Hemchandra Gupte, Chhagan Bhujbal, Narayan Rane and Raj Thackeray -- the number of those who rebelled against the Shiv Sena is big, but what sets apart the mutiny launched by Eknath Shinde is the vertical split in the organisation that it has induced, and the dent it has dealt to the aura of infallibility around chief minister and party president Uddhav Thackeray.
At the heart of the challenge lies the identity of the party – Shinde and his supporters have staked claim to the mantle of the “real” Shiv Sena and the legacy of its late supremo Bal Thackeray, claiming Uddhav had diluted the Hindutva credentials by aligning with the “secular” Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in an “unnatural alliance”.
But there are specific and other immediate pressing issues that Uddhav will need to focus on. In addition to retaining power, he will have to fight for control of the organisational apparatus and the party’s legislative wing, and ensure the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) does not eat into its control of the Mumbai and Thane civic bodies, where elections are due later this year.
The Sena’s power in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is crucial for the
party to nurture its networks of power and patronage in the city through its “reward economy” and also keep its organisational muscle in fine fettle.
Any loss of power in Mumbai may serve as a body blow to the Shiv Sena, people in the party believe.
“This is an existential crisis for the Shiv Sena considering the extent of this rebellion. More than Uddhav, this is a threat to the leadership of Aaditya Thackeray, who is being groomed to eventually take his place. Uddhav’s biggest challenge is to break this mutiny using the power of the common Shiv Sainiks, maintain the separate existence of the party in the legislature, and re-assert his command over the organisation,” said a Sena leader, asking not to be
named. This person said Uddhav will have to hold on to power in the BMC, win the bypoll to the Andheri East assembly segment, and ensure that Shinde’s pocket borough of Thane, where the party struck roots soon after it was formed in 1966, remains a Shiv Sena bastion.
A former Sena legislator said the challenge will be significant. “Going with the Congress and NCP was a wrong decision. The NCP cunningly cornered all crucial portfolios like finance, home, rural development and water resources and held the strings of the government. This game of one-upmanship was complicated by Uddhav’s inaccessibility and lack of acumen. The very extent of this rebellion shows the depth of anger in the party,” this person said.