Pawar, Thackeray factions to invoke Maharashtra’s asmita to counter BJP

Mumbai: Mumbai: Four years after Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray took the lead in bringing together the opposition under the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) banner and preventing the BJP from coming to power, the two leaders find themselves in similar situation. Both have lost the parties they headed as the Election Commission of India has ruled in favour of their rebel factions, which were aided by the BJP. The factions headed by Thackeray and Pawar are now likely to invoke ‘Maharashtrachi asmita’ or pride of Maharashtra to go the people in the coming elections.

While Thackeray and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders are already alleging conspiracy against Maharashtra while criticising the BJP leadership, Pawar faction leaders spoke about the insult to Maharashtrian pride immediately after the ECI order on Tuesday evening.

“It is a huge conspiracy against Maharashtra,”said Supriya Sule, working president of the Pawar faction. “This is an example of the ‘invisible power’ (the phrase was first used by CM Eknath Shinde to describe the BJP government at the centre) conspiring against Marathi manooos. What was done with Bal Thackeray’s family is now being done in case of the Pawar family,” she remarked.

Pawar faction MLA Rohit Pawar posted on his social media account, “The defectors can use the enormous power of the ruling party at the centre for personal benefits, but they can’t take a decision on classical language status for Marathi, or increasing the reservation limit above 50 %, or retaining Mumbai’s importance and ensuring that projects in state are not taken to other states.”

In fact, the opposition MVA has been trying to set the same narrative for quite some time. The Centre’s move to shift some projects and investments to Gujarat provided ammunition to the parties to corner the BJP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena. The recent opening of the diamond bourse in Surat was also criticised by the MVA.

Closer to the elections, the Thackeray and Pawar factions are likely to raise the issue aggressively in urban areas, especially in the Mumbai metropolitan region as well as in other parts of Maharashtra.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said, “The ECI decision is not surprising. There is a conspiracy by the BJP to finish regional parties in India. They are specifically targeting Maharashtra. They are trying to finish the two parties that have been standing for Maharashtra’s pride. The two parties will fight jointly against them”

A senior Pawar faction leader said recent developments in the state have also forced them to invoke regional identity.

“There was significant response to both Pawar and Thackeray following splits in both the parties within a year. It was seen as an attack on the state’s leaders. However, it waned due to the Maratha reservation issue raised by Manoj Jarange Patil. The ongoing Maratha versus OBC tussle is dominating the public discourse specially in the rural areas. As such, we need to invoke the regional identity to mobilise support among the people,” he said.

While the two factions are planning public meetings separately, they are also considering joint rallies of Pawar and Thackeray at a few places.