Maharashtra: BJP set to form govt, Shiv Sena pays dynasty price

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By Manish Anand

New Delhi, June 22: The only relevance of a state Governor in all practical sense is in times of fluid political situation.

Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s latest health update of being Covid-19 positive makes him out of bounds for any meetings by the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance constituents, allowing enough space and time for the BJP to make its moves as per the convenience of the party.

By moving the rebel Shiv Sena MLAs led by the state minister Eknath Shinde to Guwahati, there are ample indications that the top brass of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is convinced that the time has come to serve the revenge to Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray for breaking ranks after the 2019 polls.

The Shiv Sena’s most visible face and the Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Rout has hinted that the state Assembly may be dissolved. There are indications that Uddhav Thackeray may resign from the post of the CM by evening.

But the state Governor is not obliged to act on what the Chief Minister advices when he’s aware that the ruling alliance has lost the majority.

While the state Assembly has so far completed only half of its term, the Governor is within his Constitutional rights to explore the possibilities of the formation of an alternative government.

The show of strength in Guwahati by Shinde makes it abundantly clear that the BJP is on its way to the seat of power in Maharashtra.

With the possibility of the BJP coming to power gaining strength, sources said that more fence-sitters in the ranks of the Shiv Sena could change sides to swell the numbers for Shinde to stake claims for the ownership of the party and its symbol.

Shinde, incidentally, has all along been maintaining that he’s a true believer in the words and actions of the party founder Bal Thackeray.

The Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has never been a worthy inheritor of the political legacy of his father. His cousin Raj Thackeray was more in the colours of the mercurial founder of the Shiv Sena.

While Uddhav Thackeray had a poor track record as a political leader, his administrative skills had been seen to be awful.

Worst was his hurry to institute a political dynasty by propping up his son Aditya Thackeray.

He just needed to take a look at the fate of the dynasty driven political parties such as Samajwadi Party, Indian National Lok Dal, Rashtriya Janata Dal, Rashtriya Lok Dal, which have lost the popular support amid desertion by leaders who had built the party in the initial years.

Eknath Shinde’s principal grievance is against the Thackeray dynasty only.