Mumbai: It is a question of survival for the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, after the landslide victory by their breakaway parties in the Assembly election.
For the decimated Opposition, the immediate task now is to finalise their party leaders in the state legislature. Both leaders need to pick people of high integrity and commitment, as the ruling Mahayuti alliance is likely to attempt further damage to their parties by wooing MLAs over.
The Opposition in the Assembly is going to be the weakest in recent times, so much so that the question is now raised whether any party would get the position of Leader of Opposition which enjoys cabinet minister rank. Though no party can lay claim to the post given the mandatory criteria of having at least 10% of the strength of the 288-member House, they can claim it on the basis of the total strength of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). It was given to the Progressive Democratic Front comprising Janata Dal and left-wing parties such as CPI, CPI (M), PWP, and others in the 1980s.
All Eyes On Shiv Sena-UBT & NCP-SP
All eyes will now be on how Thackeray and Pawar build up their respective parties, a task that appears to be a strenuous one. While Thackeray, 64, led the election campaign after an angiography, Pawar, 83, did it with his tremendous willpower. To build the party unit, which is in ruins after the dismal performance with just 20 and 14 wins respectively, is no simple task given the convincing wins that the Shinde-led Shiv Sena with 58 seats and Ajit Pawar-led NCP with 41 seats have registered.
With certain limitations on Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar, the task of rejuvenating the Shiv Sena and the NCP is not an easy one for their political heirs – Aaditya Thackeray and Supriya Sule – too, mainly because Aaditya, an urban face, has been concentrating on civic affairs in Mumbai, and Baramati MP Sule has been mostly involved in national politics in Delhi.
Sharad Pawar Fails To Enthuse Voters
Even after making a sustained effort to convince voters that the party he founded and nurtured was taken away by his nephew Ajit, Pawar failed to enthuse voters. The same has happened with Uddhav Thackeray, who appealed to the people saying that CM Eknath Shinde took away the party founded by his father Balasaheb with the bow-andarrow symbol. Both leaders have been fighting a legal battle in the Supreme Court against the Election Commission's decision to allot official party status to the splinter groups. With the Assembly election results the cases are morally lost, making matters even more complicated. However, they can take solace in having nine (Sena-UBT) and eight (NCP-SP) members in the Lok Sabha for now, at least.
