Uddhav Thackeray(C) and Narayan Rane(L) and Eknath Shinde.
Credit: PTI File Photo
Mumbai: Once known for money-order economy, the coastal Konkan belt of Maharashtra is set to witness a big fight between Uddhav Thackeray and his two bete noires Narayan Rane and Eknath Shinde.
The financial capital of Mumbai and the larger Mumbai metropolitan region (MMR) is part of the region.
For decades, the Mumbai-Konkan region, which now has 12 Lok Sabha seats and 75 Vidhan Sabha seats have been influenced by the late Balasaheb Thackeray - because a large number of people who worked in Mumbai came from Konkan districts and it was a money order economy.
Of the 75 seats, 36 are in Mumbai.
Incidentally, the undivided Shiv Sena has controlled the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation - whose budget and reserves are bigger than smaller states - for quarter of a century.
Balasaheb’s cause for Marathi-manoos (sons-of-the-soil) and later adopting Hindutva inspired the people of the belt.
The region has given five Maharashtra Chief Ministers - late Abdul Rehman Antulay, Dr Manohar Joshi, Narayan Rane, Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde.
By the 1980s, Shiv Sena had made major gains in Mumbai, and by 1990, it formed an alliance with the BJP on the common platform of Hindutva because of the efforts of Balasaheb and stalwart’s like Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde. Besides, Balasaheb shared personal equations with late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani.
In 1995, the Shiv Sena-BJP formed a government, however, in 1999, the Democratic Front was formed by the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led undivided NCP, which kept the saffron alliance out of power for 15 years.
Rane’s exit from the Shiv Sena and joining the Congress saw a tussle between him and his former party in the South Konkan area. Now Rane is in the BJP and MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg.
Shinde, who is now the Chief Minister and commands the real Shiv Sena will pose a tough challenge to Uddhav Thackeray, who is now the head of Shiv Sena (UBT). Shinde is an MLA from Thane city.
The Helium connection
On August 18, 1868, during the solar eclipse, Vijaydurg Fort was the site for the shortest distance between the Sun and the Earth. Hence, the famous French scientist Jenson and geologist Lockier came here and built rectangular platforms on which their telescopes were positioned. It was during this observation that scientists observed a yellow ring surrounding the Sun. On further research - it was named Helium gas.
Konkan:
Total Districts: 7
Mumbai City, Mumbai Suburban, Palghar, Thane, Raigad, Ratnagiri, Sindhudurg
Konkan is the coastal belt of Maharashtra
Konkan is known for its tourism, food, fish, cashew, mangoes
Alphonso mangoes of Ratnagiri is famous all over the world
South Konkan is known for its money-order-economy
Fishing, horticulture, agriculture are revenue earners
Total Lok Sabha seats: 12
Total Vidhan Sabha seats: 75
Maharashtra Legislative Assembly 2019
Shiv Sena 29,
Congress 4
BJP 27
NCP 6
Bahujan Vikas Aghadi 3
Samajwadi Party 2,
MNS 1
CPI (M)
Independents 2
Lok Sabha elections 2024
Shiv Sena (ES) - 3
Shiv Sena (UBT) - 3
BJP - 3
Congress - 1
NCP (AP) - 1
NCP (SP) - 1
Lok Sabha polls 2019
BJP - 4
Shiv Sena - 7
NCP - 1