Uddhav goes home
As rebels gather in greater numbers in Guwahati, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray offers to quit and leaves his official residence
MUMBAI: For the longest time no matter who the chief minister of Maharashtra was, Matoshree in Bandra East was the most important address in Mumbai—for that is where Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray lived and presided over the city. On Wednesday night, several suitcases were carried out of Varsha, the official residence of the CM, and Uddhav Thackeray moved back to base at Matoshree.
It’s a move fraught with political and emotional significance for Shiv Sainiks, thousands of whom lined the streets from south Mumbai to Bandra in a show of belated support for him. Uddhav Thackeray stopped at several points en route to greet his supporters.
Earlier in the evening, speaking for the first time since the large-scale rebellion in the party, led by Eknath Shinde, Uddhav Thackeray made a carefully calibrated emotional pitch. In his 17-minute-long address in colloquial Marathi, he said the post of the chief minister held little attraction for him but he hoped that it would be a Shiv Sainik who would continue to grace it. He would resign he said provided they met him at Matoshree in person and asked him to do so.
“I am prepared to resign and since I cannot go to Raj Bhavan as I have Covid, any of those disaffected MLAS can come and take it from me and give it to the Governor.” The increasing sense in the party though is that mollifying outreach came a little too late. The number of rebels with Shinde in Gauhati is inching towards the 37 MLA mark required to avoid attracting provisions under the antidefection law and to give the BJP a comfortable majority in case of a floor test.
“We have seen several challenges and attempted rebellions, but Shiv Sena never crumbled. It has always risen back