Maharashtra crisis: Uddhav recalls his ‘unexpected’ start at ‘unexpected’ end

In the last two-and-a-half years, Uddhav Thackeray made it a point to reiterate that he never wanted the chief ministership. On Wednesday evening, as he resigned as the chief minister of Maharashtra, Thackeray said he came to the post “unexpectedly”, and was going out similarly.

The Thackerays have always remained behind the scenes and ran the proceedings with a ‘remote control’, but Uddhav Thackeray, 62, took the chief minister’s post to keep the BJP out. Was that perhaps his mistake, which would dent the Thackeray legacy?

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Thackeray’s tenure as the chief minister was dotted with many issues including his inaccessibility to legislators, and party workers. It has also won laurels mainly for the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. Thackeray earned goodwill with his numerous addresses during the Covid-induced lockdown and the second wave of the coronavirus. He also faced questions from the opposition for not going to Mantralaya.

In the initial months of his chief ministership, Thackeray was reluctant to move to Varsha (the official residence of chief minister), but later shifted to the official CM residence for ease of government functioning. Faced with the revolt and a possible defeat, last week Thackeray moved out of the bungalow in Malabar Hill to his family home, Matoshree in Bandra East.

Political observers said that Thackeray’s handling of the government was not hands-on like other chief ministers before him. Thackeray’s inexperience in keeping all the stakeholders close to him cost him dearly. “Running a political party and running a government are two different things. One cannot run the government in an auto-pilot mode while delegating responsibilities to his cabinet ministers,” said an analyst.

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Another political analyst, Hemant Desai said, “Uddhav Thackeray took the responsibility in specific circumstances. I don’t think he made a mistake by accepting the chief ministership. It looked like he accepted the challenge. Covid epidemic tested his skill as an administrator and he tried to handle it in his best capacity. I think he failed to pay attention to the party organization or did not make arrangements for the same.”

“Thackeray should have also responded to the complaints of his legislators that he was inaccessible. Further, he should have also addressed the confusion in his cadre after he teamed up with the parties that have different ideologies,” he added.

Battered by the revolt in the party, Thackeray’s faces a challenge to rebuild the party as several key leaders are expected to leave the party. The cadre is also going to be divided, which could hurt the Sena most with key municipal corporation elections coming in a few months.

“I came unexpectedly and going similarly. I am not going anywhere; I will meet Shiv Sainiks at Sena Bhavan and rebuild the party with new blood. The Shiv Sena will remain the same and nobody can take it away from us... Shiv Sena has faced several challenges and will deal with many more in the future,” he added.

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Thackeray’s first challenge now would be to retain control of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and other 13 civic bodies. After losing 39 legislators to Eknath Shinde’s revolt, the BMC elections are likely to be a make or break for the Shiv Sena. Thackeray’s Sena will clash with BJP, which is riding on its success in Rajya Sabha, and the MLC election. The BMC polls are expected to be held in September-October. Sena MLAs like Sada Sarvankar (Mahim), Yamini Jadhav (Byculla), Prakash Surve (Magathane) and Mangesh Kudalkar (Kurla) joined the Shinde camp and this would dent the Sena in their areas.

On the party front, Thackeray’s core team now only consists of leaders from Mumbai. The Sena which was aiming to expand in other states has got a big setback as the party. Thackeray’s core team includes Mumbai leaders including Aaditya, Anil Parab, Anil Desai, Sanjay Raut, Subhash Desai, and Arvind Sawant. The second rung of leaders including Sunil Prabhu, Ravindra Waikar and Ajay Chaudhari is from Mumbai. The Sena lost leadership in the form of Dadaji Bhuse and Gularao Patil in north Maharashtra, where the Sena was strong. The Sena lost legislators from Aurangabad, in the Marathwada region, where the Sena first expanded beyond the Mumbai-Thane belt.