File Photo: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray at the Maharashtra Police Academy (MPA), Nashik.
Credit: PTI Photo
Mumbai: Rattled by the split in the Shiv Sena and back-to-back three verdicts going against him, Uddhav Thackeray has planned to launch his outfit’s campaign for the 2024 Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra’s historical town of Nashik on Tuesday.
The day has significance as it is the birth anniversary of Balasaheb Thackeray (23 January, 1926–17 November, 2012), who founded the Shiv Sena on 19 June 1966 for the cause of Marathi-manoos and championed the Hindutva-movement.
The day also marks the birth anniversary of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, the legendary revolutionary freedom fighter.
The campaign launch involving - ‘maha-shibir’ and ‘khula-adhiveshan’ - of Uddhav’s party - which is know called Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) or Shiv Sena (UBT) - happens a day after the ‘pran-pratishta’ of the idol of Ram Lalla at the grand Ram Mandir under construction at Ayodhya.
The rebellion on 21 June, 2022 in the party that was carried out by now Chief Minister Eknath Shinde with the help of BJP, has left Thackeray dejected as the saffron party never faced such a rebellion. Shinde's BJP-backed Maha Yuti government has two Deputy Chief Ministers - Devendra Fadnavis, who had been a Chief Minister and Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, and NCP’s Ajit Pawar, a five-time Deputy Chief Minister and former opposition leader. Incidentally, Shinde too had been a former Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly.
On 17 February 2023, the Election Commission legitimised the Shinde-faction as real Shiv Sena, and allotted the bow and arrow symbol. Thereafter on 11 May, 2013, the Supreme Court said that Uddhav's position as Chief Minister cannot be restored as he had resigned before the floor test. The final blow came on 10 January, 2024, when Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar, while ruling on disqualification pleas, recognised the Shinde-led group as the real Shiv Sena.
For Uddhav, resurrecting the party will be a herculean task because 2024 would see the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls and also the polls to civic bodies of the state which includes all the major cities including Mumbai, Thane, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Amravati.
The SS (UBT) has an alliance with Congress and Sharad Pawar-Supriya Sule-led NCP group in Maharashtra which is known as the Maha Vikas Party even as Uddhav is one of the key leaders of the opposition INDIA alliance.
The undivided Shiv Sena has won 18 seats in 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha polls - which it fought in alliance with the BJP.
After the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, the nearly 30-year-old saffron alliance involving BJP and Shiv Sena broke last year. With a few MLAs remaining with him, it will be a tough road ahead for Uddhav Thackeray.