Sena (UBT), AAP friendship takes root as they take on common foe

Mumbai: On Wednesday, nearly the entire Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) top brass was at Matoshree to garner support against the Union government’s recent ordinance which seeks to curb the powers of the elected AAP government.

Over tea and ragda pattice, Arvind Kejriwal, Bhagwant Mann, Punjab chief minister, Raghav Chaddha, MP, and Atishi, Delhi education minister, confabulated with Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray, after which a beaming Kejriwal spoke about his growing friendship with the Thackerays. This was his second meeting at Matoshree after a ‘courtesy call’ he had made this February.

Last week, Aaditya was in Delhi to pay his own courtesy call on Kejriwal and to attend Chaddha’s engagement with film actor Parineeti Chopra. Bhagwant Mann told the media about his invitation to the Thackerays to visit Punjab, while also casually mentioning that Uddhav and Kejriwal often speak to each other on the phone to discuss affairs of state.

So, what occasions this growing proximity between two seemingly disparate parties?

Insiders point out to a common foe in the BJP. Both parties can claim to be victims of the BJP’s overarching ambition. They can also afford to make common cause because neither is in the other’s territory. AAP has virtually no presence in Maharashtra and similarly the Shiv Sena (UBT) has no presence in the north.

Both parties are centred around a personality cult and hence the Thackeray-Kejriwal camaraderie creates a narrative that makes them bigger than their battered stature at present. They also share a common unease with some of the Congress party’s stands even though Sena (UBT) is in alliance with the Congress in Maharashtra.

The Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna has often written sharp edits supporting Kejriwal in his battle against the central government while Kejriwal, by coming to Matoshree, provides the deference that Thackeray seeks. On Wednesday, Uddhav told the media: “We at Shiv Sena and at Matoshree are known for respecting relationships beyond politics.”

Sena leaders say that Uddhav was one of the first people to call and wish Kejriwal after his landslide win in 2020. Additionally, the Thackeray-led government had closely studied the AAP government’s Mohalla Clinics scheme before starting a similar project in Mumbai. Both Kejriwal and Uddhav are also keen that their party’s second-rung leaders, too, get to know each other well and create a smooth working relationship on larger national issues, said a Sena leader not willing to be quoted.

“After the Thackerays assured support in Rajya Sabha against the ordinance, Kejriwal too promised to support Shiv Sena (UBT) in its fight against the BJP and said that good people should stay on in politics,” said the Sena leader.

“Both leaders have been scarred at the hands of BJP-appointed Governors and have larger aims towards a potential national alliance to save democracy and constitutional institutions,” added Sena MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.