Shiv Sena leader and Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.
Credit: PTI File Photos
Mumbai: When the erstwhile Shiv Sena-BJP government was in power from 1995-99, late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray ran the government from what he described as a "remote control".
Those were the days when the duo of Atal Bihari Vajpayee-Lal Krishna Advani ran the BJP and had leaders like Pramod Mahajan and Gopinath Munde, who had access to Balasaheb.
However, after his death, when Uddhav Thackeray took over as the Shiv Sena’s executive president, he brought in new ideas.
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The five years 2014-2019, saw the relations between the two saffron allies reach nadir.
After the 2019 Assembly polls, he snapped ties of 30 years with BJP and joined hands with the Congress-NCP Democratic Front - much to the displeasure of the national saffron party where the duo of Narendra Modi-Amit Shah called the shots.
It's was a generational shift from “remote control” to “direct control” - when Thackeray became the Chief Minister.
Five years down the line, the Thackeray-family is facing an existential crisis - as Eknath Shinde, who toppled his government, commands the real Shiv Sena and Thackeray holds control of what is now known as Shiv Sena (UBT) and it has been stamped by the Supreme Court and Speaker.
"From the results, it appears that it would be very difficult for Thackeray to keep the flock together," said veteran political commentator and analyst Prakash Akolkar.
The Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) contested 81 and 95 seats, respectively.
The Shinde Sena winning/leading in 57 seats while Uddhav Sena in 20 seats, according to data available from Election Commission at 1800 hrs.
Thackeray’s son Aaditya managed to save the Worli seat defeating Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha member Milind Deora while his son’s maternal cousin Varun Sardesai managed to secure the Bandra East seat.
With a humiliating defeat, it is difficult for Thackeray to stage any immediate comeback as his MLAs would constantly be under the scanner of Shinde - and in the days to come some of the MLAs may take a decision otherwise.
Over the last two-and-a-half years, Thackeray had hit out at Shinde and the rebel MLAs as ‘gaddar’, ‘pannas khokhe’, “chor” who stole the party, bow and arrow symbol and even photos of Balasaheb Thackeray and so on.
Asked who commands the real Shiv Sena, Shinde said: “The results have shown which Shiv Sena is real and carry forward the legacy of Balasaheb Thackeray.”
Shinde's son and Kalyan MP Dr Shrikant Shinde noted: "The results show who is the true inheritor of Balasaheb's legacy"
When Thackeray was asked the same question, he said: “I am awaiting the verdict of the Supreme Court…I wonder....the elections are over, but the verdict has not yet come."
Even in the Lok Sabha elections, Shinde’s Sena outperformed theUddhav Sena. The Shinde Sena had won seven out of the 15 seats it contested, achieving a success rate of 46.6 per cent, as compared to Uddhav’s party, which won nine of the 21 seats — 42.85 per cent.
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Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls took place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP went up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress tried to make their mark. Maha Yuti are currently comfortably poised to win. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faced a challenge after Hemant Soren's arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP, but look set to retain power with its I.N.D.I.A. allies. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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