9 months of Shinde: ‘Real’ Shiv Sena still to find its feet

Mumbai: Balasaheb Bhavan, a colonial-style bungalow on Madame Cama Road at Nariman Point, is the makeshift office of the Shiv Sena helmed by chief minister Eknath Shinde. Unlike Shiv Sena Bhavan, the buzzing-through-the-day nerve center of the pre-split Sena, Balashaeb Bhavan sees much less action. Activities are divided between this venue, Varsha, the CM’s official residence, and two government bungalows. They often begin late at night or even early morning, since it is only then that the CM gives time for party work.

Shinde’s Sena came into existence nine months ago when he rebelled against then party chief Uddhav Thackeray, pulled down the MVA government and formed a government with the BJP. He insisted that his was the original Shiv Sena since the majority of MLAs and MPs defected with him, and even got an Election Commission ruling in his favour. But though the latter has enabled Shinde to flaunt his party as the “real” Shiv Sena, his job is far from over.

Shinde’s colleagues themselves admit that the party looks good on paper but much needs to be done on the ground if a solid organisation has to be built. Despite the jubilation about being the “real” Shiv Sena, the fact remains that the party is limited to a bunch of MLAs, MPs and a few leaders. The ground-level organisation has remained with Uddhav Thackeray.

“Technically speaking, we have people who are elected either to assembly or Parliament and their followers. We need to have a functional party structure and district units,” remarked a senior party leader. “But building a party organisation and running it with a programme for units across the state takes a lot of time. There is no top brass and no established structure to handle things. As of now, we have a case-by-case approach to matters.”

The party has adopted the pre-split Shiv Sena’s Constitution and Shinde has designated himself as the “chief leader”. Besides him, there are four leaders— Gajanan Kirtikar, Pratap Jadhav, Anand Adsul and Ramdas Kadam—and nearly 25 deputy leaders. According to party insiders, meetings are held when needed but all crucial decisions are taken by Shinde himself.

The Shiv Sena led by Shinde is a unipolar world, which is also proving to be a problem for his party. The CM usually attends to his chief ministerial duties till midnight and keeps only a few hours post-midnight for party work. “He works till 3 am or 4 am and goes to bed after the last visitor is attended to,” said party spokesperson Krishna Hegde.

Building an organisation

The main task before Shinde is expanding his party and establishing its organisational presence across the state. A crucial part of this is to attempt to get more people to join him, especially the significant number of Sainiks who have remained with the Thackeray faction. Party leaders believe that many of these will flock to them once the Supreme Court delivers its verdict on the split. “That will happen soon,” pronounced Shiv Sena deputy leader Kiran Pawaskar.

Shinde Sena leaders are also aware that the existence of a strong supporting network is vital for the party’s growth. According to Pawaskar, one of the reasons why the Sharad Pawar-led NCP progressed so quickly was because of its support base in the cooperative sector, a crucial hook in rural Maharashtra. “We are trying to replicate this, using the services of Anandrao Adsul who is in cooperatives,” he said. “Ramdas Kadam is helping the party grow in Konkan, where most Shiv Sainiks from the Thackeray faction hail from.”

Communication and reach

Most political parties have a coordinated mechanism to ensure that all their leaders and spokespersons speak the same language. In the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, there is none, and at times, different spokespersons express different views. Shinde has appointed a Delhi-based consultant to rectify this.

However, the party’s plans and outreach programmes are yet to be devised. “The BJP-Shiv Sena announced a Savarkar Gaurav Yatra in every district and tehsil but the Shiv Sena is yet to implement this, because there is no connect at the tehsil level,” said sources.

When Bal Thackeray founded the Shiv Sena in 1966, citizens went to the shakhas to solve their problems and then got connected with the party. Many Shinde Sena workers have opened jansampark (PR) offices but the shakhas in Mumbai are barely visible. Most of the ground machinery in Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, Ambernath and Kulgaon-Badlapur is under Shinde’s control, but its presence is scarcely felt at the ground level elsewhere.

The party does not even have dedicated headquarters. It functions from Balasaheb Bhavan and two government bungalows at Malabar Hill—Nandanvan and Agradoot—where meetings are held and party workers also stay at times. Shinde had shortlisted a building near Plaza theatre at Dadar to set up a proper headquarters but it did not work out. There is no sign of district offices either.