In search of candidates and loyalists

Mumbai: An important part of the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s preparations for the next assembly elections involves a search for 40 candidates to defeat the MLAs who rebelled against party chief Uddhav Thackeray and joined Eknath Shinde to split the party and pull down the Thackeray-led government. Identifying such candidates will be crucial, as these seats form a large chunk of the seats that will come to the Thackeray faction in the seat-sharing pact if the three partners of the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) context the next assembly elections together.

The Thackeray faction’s top guns believe that the party can win a significant number of these seats, as they are considered traditional Shiv Sena seats, and voters are expected to support Thackeray rather than chief minister Eknath Shinde. The search for strong candidates, thus, is on in these constituencies. While some are being identified from within the party, some are being exported from other parties—from the BJP or even from allies Congress and NCP.

The Thackeray faction recently admitted into its fold Sanjay Kadam, a former NCP MLA from Khed in Ratnagiri district, to field opposite Yogesh Kadam, sitting MLA who defected to the Shinde-led Shiv Sena. It brought Advay Hirey from the BJP to contest opposite Shinde camp minister Dada Bhuse in Malegaon in Nashik district. Vinod Ghosalkar, an Uddhav Thackeray loyalist and organisation man, is likely to be fielded opposite Shinde-led Shiv Sena MLA Prakash Surve in Magathane in Mumbai. Former Mumbai mayor Vishakha Raut could be the candidate opposite Sada Sarvankar in Dadar-Mahim, which Thackeray is keen on winning since the constituency houses the Shiv Sena Bhavan, his party’s headquarters. Similarly, Mahant Sunil Maharaj, a religious leader of the Banjara community, was inducted into the party to challenge another Shinde camp minister Sanjay Rathod, who is an influential Banjara leader from Yavatmal in Vidarbha region. The party is also looking at exchanging a few seats with allies, giving them the seats it may lose since it doesn’t have strong candidates there, and get a few seats from the kitty of the allies where they have good candidates or the local situation seems favourable.

A significant part of the whole exercise is, of course, to identify the candidates from within the party, especially loyalists. And there is an irony in this. For the past decade or so, there have been several constituencies in which those who had resources were preferred as candidates over party workers who had been working for years. In several cases, those who came from other parties were given tickets and even made ministers after the party came to power in 2014 and 2019. In 2017, Tanaji Sawant joined the party, was elected to the state legislative council and was even made a minister. In 2019, he was again made a minister. Similarly, Deepak Kesarkar and Uday Samant, both NCP legislators who joined the Shiv Sena, were made ministers. All three of them were close associates of Shinde in his rebellion.

With almost all such MLAs deserting the party, loyalists are now in demand. It remains to be seen if they can bring back the lost glory to the Thackeray faction.

The uncertainty and the unease

All political parties in Maharashtra are anxiously awaiting the verdict of the Supreme Court on the legality of the split in the Shiv Sena and the formation of the Shinde-Fadnavis government last June. The hearing has been concluded by a bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud, and the verdict is expected in the next few days. There is a clear sense of uncertainty and unease in the state’s political circles, especially the ruling alliance. Most ministers from the Shinde-led Shiv Sena are wary of the result and hence in a hurry to push through decisions they have taken. “There is pressure on us to clear files,” said a senior bureaucrat.

Compared to the Shinde-led Sena, the mood in the BJP is less anxious. Most BJP legislators believe that they will still be in power, considering that the party has 120-plus MLAs on its side even if the apex court order goes against them. In fact, they say that if that happens, they will have a BJP chief minister. Significantly, the man in the hot seat, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, is quite confident that the verdict will be in his favour. All eyes are now on the apex court.

Mobile phone, Jayant Patil and NCP

Last Tuesday, as state NCP chief Jayant Patil was addressing party workers at a review meeting at Chandwad in Nashik district, the electricity went off, plunging the hall in darkness. Patil picked up his mobile phone, turned on its flashlight and continued his address. In response, the workers who were attending the meeting also did the same. An amused Patil went ahead with his speech guiding them on building the party in the district. No wonder, the NCP is considered a better organised party.