‘MVA still together’: Has Uddhav Thackeray’s unity pitch ruffled BJP’s feathers?

In a show of strength, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance has decided to contest both the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly and Lok Sabha elections jointly.

The decision came after the MVA comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress held a huddle on Tuesday months after the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led government, as per Indian Express.

With Uddhav Thackeray chairing the MVA meet, the allies have sent a political message that the Shiv Sena president still holds leadership of the coalition.

Let’s look at MVA’s united front and if it has ruffled BJP’s feathers:

‘Still together’

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, who had to resign as the Maharashtra chief minister in late June in the wake of rebellion by rebel party MLA Eknath Shinde, told reporters after the meeting that there is no rift in the MVA alliance and that they will take a decision soon on whether the three parties will contest the upcoming civic polls in Mumbai together.

“We (MVA partners) met after a long time and felt good. We are still together. We will tell you (soon) what we are going to do,” PTI quoted Thackeray as saying.

This was Thackeray’s first visit to Vidhan Bhavan in south Mumbai, the venue of the meeting, since his government was toppled.

“I was concerned about a split in Congress and the NCP but it happened to me and I could not realise what was coming. But the leadership of both the parties [Congress and the NCP] stood by me. If we continue in the coalition then we can defeat them,” Hindustan Times quoted Uddhav as saying.

Addressing media, Uddhav recounted how the MVA government fought the COVID-19 pandemic successfully and thus the current challenge of the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis-led Maharashtra government was a “minor obstacle” in comparison.

“We three parties fought a pandemic like COVID-19, which brought the world to its knees, successfully. This obstacle (Shinde-Fadnavis government) is a very minor one compared to that. We shall overcome and we standing together will send a message to the country,” the Shiv Sena chief was quoted as saying by Indian Express.

Maharashtra Congress president Nana Patole echoed the Shiv Sena chief’s unity remark, saying the MVA is together.

All senior MVA leaders, including NCP’s Ajit Pawar, Jayant Patil and Dilip Walse Patil, Congress’ Balasaheb Thorat, Prithviraj Chavan and Ashok Chavan attended the meeting.

Maharashtra NCP chief Jayant Patil put his weight behind MVA fighting the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections as a united front. “We can send a positive message before Maharashtra if we remain united even in Mumbai,” Patil said, as per Hindustan Times.

According to Deccan Herald, the MVA leaders are of the opinion that the alliance should remain intact as it would prove politically advantageous for them while fighting BJP. After Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations, the leaders of the three parties are expected to tour the state separately, the report added.

BJP on alert as MVA presents united front

The Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP’s decision not to disband the coalition has put BJP in a spot, which has to now iron out its electoral blueprint accordingly.

The BJP has already begun to reframe its poll strategy in view of the MVA deciding to stick together, the saffron party sources said, as per Indian Express. “One of the reasons why BJP was desperate to break the MVA government was to unsettle them,” a senior BJP leader speaking anonymously told Indian Express.

The central BJP top brass has set the target for its Maharashtra unit: win 42 seats out of the total 48 Lok Sabha seats in the 2024 general elections and cross the 200 mark in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly polls.

Another challenge that the BJP, the largest party in the Maharashtra Assembly with 106 MLAs, will have to overcome is the seat-sharing ratio in the upcoming elections with the Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction.

How was the MVA government toppled?

Shinde, along with a bunch of rebel Shiv Sena MLAs, went incommunicado after the then rival BJP managed to get its fifth candidate elected in the Maharashtra Legislative Council polls held in June, possibly due to cross-voting from the ruling bloc.

Shinde and the other rebels were later found in Gujarat’s Surat, from where they were flown to Assam’s Guwahati. The rebels demanded that the Shiv Sena forge an alliance with BJP and end the “unnatural” tie-up with Congress and NCP.

After the Supreme Court allowed a floor test, Uddhav, who had lost the majority in the Assembly, resigned from the CM post on 29 June.

That paved the way for Shinde to form the next Maharashtra government with senior BJP leader Fadnavis as his deputy.

Shinde’s rebellion split Shiv Sena into two factions, one led by him and the other by Uddhav Thackeray.

Besides having the backing of the BJP,  Chief Minister Shinde enjoys the support of 40 Shiv Sena MLAs and 12 MPs.

With inputs from agencies

Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.