Shiv Sena crisis highlights the urban-rural divide

A key indication to understanding the sudden and largescale rebellion in Shiv Sena’s ranks lies in seeing which constituencies the rebels represent. Of the 38 Shiv Sena legislators in Eknath Shinde’s camp, as many as 23 MLAs come from rural and semi-urban regions of Maharashtra. These are MLAs who have won on Sena tickets no doubt but owing to the Mumbai-centric nature of the party do not enjoy proximity to the leadership, a fact that has been well exploited by Shinde who himself has roots in Satara district in western Maharashtra.

With the new generation of Mumbai-centric functionaries led by Aaditya Thackeray increasingly influencing the party’s policies, the restiveness of MLAs from the hinterland went largely unaddressed. “In past one year or so we heard more about electric buses, environment, tourism and metro trains than about rural issues in the party. While we could understand the focus on Mumbai, we were expecting some thrust on rural issues concerning our constituencies but they were mostly left to the NCP and Congress ministers whose priorities were the constituencies held by their leaders,” said a rebel MLA from Marathwada region.

In the nearly two years that the MVA coalition has been in power, there were several instances when the interests of the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party were at odds. Both parties have been seeking to expand their base in Vidarbha, Marathwada, and north Maharashtra, which comprise over 50% of the 288 assembly constituencies in the state. With the NCP in charge of the departments of finance, home, rural development, cooperation and water resources it was relatively easier for the party to dispense favours and strengthen their presence in these regions. This was compounded by Thackeray’s own inaccessibility to his legislators--due to his health and the Covid-19 outbreak. NCP legislators found it easier to meet deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, than did the Sena MLAs from outside Mumbai.

The Shiv Sena’s main base has been always been MMR—Metropolitan Mumbai Region that comprise the city and satellite districts like Navi Mumbai, Thane and Palghar among others. Over two decades the party has built its presence in tier-two towns of the state like Aurangabad, Osmanabad, Nanded, Buldhana, Jalgaon, Raigad, Ratnagiri, and Sindhudurg but many of the party MLAs from these regions have gone with Eknath Shinde. Rebel legislators, who spoke to HT attributed it to the dominance of the NCP in their constituencies. An MLA, who is with Shinde said that after even several complaints and correspondence, the CM did not resolve the issues of funds in his constituency. “I wrote 13-14 letters to the CMO and the water resources minister [Congress’ Jayant Patil] demanding funds for an irrigation project. But I received no reply. Later, I raised the issue of funds in the meeting with the CM saheb--while he listened patiently, there was no solution offered,” he complained.

Yet another rebel MLA from Marathwada underscored how lack of funding was a major concern for him. “Funds for simple road development works or drainage works needed repeated follow-up. Works worth ₹60-70 crore in a constituency are not unheard of. But other constituencies in western Maharashtra got funds easily while we struggled,” he claimed alluding to the NCP’s stronghold in western Maharashtra. He further added that Ajit Pawar wold often not entertain requests from Shiv Sena MLAs.

Ajit Pawar has dismissed allegations that NCP and the finance department blocked funds for Sena and Congress-held constituencies. “All ministers have the authority to give out funds once the finance minister presents the budget, which is passed in both the house of the state legislature. Once the budget is presented, the funds are distributed to all departments. Whatever issue they (Sena rebels) have [with regards to funds], they should have spoken to the chief minister,” he said.

Another bugbear for the rebels is that Uddhav Thackeray did not travel outside Mumbai except for government functions, leaving party functionaries in these regions unheard and neglected. Before he became CM, Uddhav was accessible to almost all party functionaries at his home, Matoshree, but this changed when he became chief minister. A couple of MLAs holed up in Guwahati fretted that in future elections, unlike the one in 2019 which was fought in conjunction with the BJP, not only would they have to take on a BJP opponent but there was also the potential threat of losing out their seat to NCP as a pre-poll alliance between the two parties looks likely.

Rajesh Kshirsagar, former MLA from Kolhapur, who joined Shinde on Friday in Guwahati was reportedly miffed with the leadership for not staking the claim for the Kolhapur North constituency where a by-poll was recently held. Kshirsagar was defeated by a Congress leader on the seat, which was given to his wife after his death. In the long list of grievances is also the fact that even though some of them contributed generously to party coffers, they were kept at an arm’s length by the leadership. Paranda MLA Tanaji Sawant is one such instance.