Allies Keep Their Honor Intact

It was no less than a clash of titans and the whole of Maharashtra, at least the Maharashtra that takes interest in politics, was looking at it anxiously. The Kalyan Dombiwali Municipal Corporation's election promised a close, almost bloody fight and it turned out to be so. However, in the end, both the two parties could claim final victory but managed to keep their honor intact.

Even though Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party share the power in the state and the center, neither of the parties shares cordial relations. Not that they had sweet memories of their co-habitation for the last 25 years, but their relations have touched ridiculously low during last one year. Ever since severing ties in last October, none of the saffron party has made any sincere attempt of reconciliation. Even after seating side by side in the state cabinet, they have not really accepted each other. Therefore, when these two allies faced each other in KDMC election, all eyes were set on what ensured to be the fireworks.

The campaigning for the election lived up to that promise. Both Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis left no stone unturned and indulged in freestyle wrestling with their verbal attacks. Cases of attacks, on the workers from and by both parties, were reported and registered. Even bullets were fired before ballots and the politics in this neighboring city of Mumbai turned bloody.

In the final phase of the campaigning, the fight became even murkier as Thackeray and Fadnavis dropped all pretentions and indulged in mud slinging. The verbal duel led to some uncharacteristic remarks as well by Fadnavis.

However, as results rolled out from the electronic voting machines on Monday, Shiv Sena seemed to edge past winning post during the early rounds and BJP managing to post honorable tally. However, the dance of democracy could be seen in full vigor by late afternoon, as Shiv Sena remained 10 seats away from the majority and BJP almost running neck to neck to it. It is clear that Shiv Sena will be able to muster majority, with the help from Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and independents, while BJP can boast of increased strength - its tally having gone up to 42 from the 9.

Neither Shiv Sena lost its hold on the backyard of Mumbai, its strong bastion literally, nor BJP was wiped out before the former's blitzkrieg. All other parties, including Congress, Nationalist Congress Party, MNS and others just drifted away in the barrage of these two parties; and meanwhile, Majlis-E-Ittehad-ul-Musalmin got away with two seats in its first ever test of strength. That was the real danger bell for the self-proclaimed 'secular' parties! 

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Raj Warns Party Workers; Will It Work?

 Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday warned his party cadres not to indulge in indiscipline or face his wrath. He cautioned them not to put up banners on the leaders’ birthdays and advised them not to chase vote politics.

Thackeray was speaking in Pune after deliberating with the party workers for three days in view of the two subsequent debacles of his party in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections. The meet was attended by the party workers, functionaries and corporators.

He said, “Don’t chase the votes for the sake of votes but connect with people as one among them. Think yourself as not party functionary but as common person. It is not that people have deserted us but you have failed to connect with the people. Now is the time to do constructive work.”

Thackeray kept himself off from criticizing any party while referring to the party’s poor performance in recent elections but took potshots on Nationalist Congress Party saying that the leaders on NCP’s posters are like ten-faced Ravan. “Anybody who puts the hoardings for wishing on birthdays will face axe the same day and he will not be in our party,” he said.

He said, “I have analyzed the reasons for the outcome and I will reinvigorate the party in Pune as well as in other districts. However, don’t indulge in indiscipline or infighting. Otherwise, those people will face the action. The party has a certain frame and none of you should cross that frame.”

Thackeray also announced the email connectrajthackeray@gmail.com for the party workers to directly communicate with him and appealed them to convey anything.

Now the question remains: will it work? It will be amusing to see!

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Thackerey Feud Brings Firecrackers Before Diwali

The citizens of Maharashtra are witnessing a dazzling show of firecrackers full weeks ahead of Diwali. The show, which can beat a laser show in any case, is taking during Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation election where two branches of Thackerey family are letting no stone unturned in their verbal assault.

Balasaheb Thackerey, original doyen of Marathi politics, hit out at his now famous nephew, whom he himself has mentored over last four decades, set the ball rolling. The senior Thackerey, unambiguously referred as Tiger in Maharashtra, lashed out at Raj Thackerey, who is son of Balasaheb's younger brother Shrikant. Apparently, the senior tiger is unhappy that the cub he fostered over the years severed his ties and chose to led his own party. Not only did Raj took his own paths, he chose own destinations and ways to tread it.

Unfortunately enough, the ways of tiger and his foster cub crossed creating obvious conflict. The cub tiger did not want to serve one who, in former's eyes, is incapable of doing justice to the agenda of the party. Matters became worse for senior one when the cub inherited all mannerisms, roaring and all, from his mentor. Tiger's own son skipped those lessons during adolescence and claimed his place when the fostered cub was about to take to throne.

When people of Maharashtra took liking to roaring of Raj during two subsequent elections in state last year, it was but only an inference that Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will have to slug it out to became the alternative party to Congress and National Congress Party. The signs were visible much earlier but the reading on the wall became legible only after 13 candidates entered the legislative assembly of Maharashtra in October last year. This was the background when Bal Thackerey hit out at Raj saying that 'he copies me. The mannerisms and copying are not the only things. There must be thought, philosophy.'

Miffed by his uncle's attack, Raj did what he refrained from doing for last four years, when he finally parted ways with his previous party. Known for his incisive tongue, Raj had restrained from putting Balasaheb at the gunpoint. 'He is deity to me and my fight is not with him, but with the middlemen around him,' he had insisted saying this for all these years. But after the sharp criticism from his uncle at Dussehara rally in Mumbai, he could not hold himself more. He opened fire at the man who, as Raj himself proclaimed even during the volcano-type eruption, was and is most venerable for him.

'Why is he repeating the same things over and over again? It is a plain fact that I was suffocating in the party. I did not have any rights. Some people assumed authority because of which I left Shiv Sena,' he pleaded in his characteristic style in front of two lakh people who gathered to listen him. In the history of municipal elections in Maharashtra, any public rally with that much size is called huge. Two lakhs people coming to a meeting for municipal election was never heard before. Added to that, the cheering and clapping from the people must have raised the spirits of MNS candidates.

When Raj put aside his oath and targeted Balasaheb Thackerey, it was but given that the diatribe would be aptly replied. And it was so. Raj's cousin and Balasaheb's own son, Uddhav, came out in open to verbally assault the MNS leader referring to Mahabharata. It was after all Uddhav, who is blamed by Raj as well as Narayan Rane, for meddling in Shiv Sena and deliberately reducing the two to their size. Both Raj and Rane attribute their desertion from Shiv Sena to Uddhav's high handedness, keeping their regard for Balasaheb intact. This gives enough reasons to Uddhav, more known for his skills in photography, to have personal grudge against the former two.

Uddhav, even though lacking in the as hardihood as Raj, targeted him saying all the obvious things. He tried to create an emotional flutter in his audience, which is forte of Shiv Sena over last five decades, saying he would not tolerate anything said against his father. Here, one was tempted to point to an episode in Maharashtra polity when the government contemplated arresting Bal Thackerey about two years ago. In his unmistakable style, Raj''s jumped the bandwagon and threatened to 'raise a hellstorm' if anyone touched Shiv Sena chief. Uddhav, through the party's mouthpiece, Saamana, had hit out at him and had said Shiv Sena is capable of defending its chief.

The same leader is now resorting to same statements. These firecrackers are adding element to otherwise a minuscule and dull election for the election of Kalyan Dombivali Municipal Corporation.

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Sorry Plight of Marathi Schools

Two separate agitations in two different cities in Maharashtra have brought to fore the sorry state of Marathi schools in the state. In an year when the state is celebrating 50 years of its formation, the government apathy is killing the language schools in favour of the English schools. The action of the government is in stark contrast to the numerous promises it has offered to public, both before and after the elections last year.

Thousands of students and teachers joined hand to protest against the closure Marathi schools on Saturday. “We have a right to learn through Marathi medium, the government can’t deny us the right to do so,” the statements written on the placards carried by students read.

The issue was first raised by Maharashtra Navnirman Vidyarthhi Sena, student wing of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The porganisation first objected to a Government Resolution brought out by the state government on June 19 which made running Marathi schools in the state illegal. First the government invited applications from the willing school owners for permitting the schools. When it received 9,000 applications, it conveniently allowed other schools while denying the same right to Marathi ones. Not stopping at that, it even threatened with criminal action for running schools without permission. Almost 4,000 schools all over the state are now facing the axe putting a question mark on the fate of the students.

The activists and lovers of Marathi are obviously concerned over the manner in which their schools are being sent into obscurity in a systematic manner. The Chief Minister himself and his council apparently have misplaced their priorities. In a state where 13 members of legislature have been elected on a strong linguist agenda and rejuvenation of the Marathi culture is evident everywhere, symptoms of Macaulay's mentality will be hard to digest. It comes as no surprise then that the opposition is growing stronger day by day against government policy. The state government will have to mend his ways.

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Maharashtra Day Was An Emotional Occasion

Water and soil from various parts of Pune district was collected at Shaniwar Wada sent to Mumbai for main function of Maharashtra’s 50th anniversary celebration.

Even as various parties and organisations vied to hog headlines celebrating the 50th anniversary of foundation of Maharashtra, the affair became more and more emotional. In Mumbai, Governor K Sankaranarayanan and Chief Minister Ashok Chavan led the state in paying tributes to the 105 martyrs of the movement that led to the creation of the state. They paid floral tributes to the martyrs of Samyukta Maharashtra movement at the Hutatma Chowk. In other parts of the state also, government machinery and political parties organised symbolic events to mark the occasion.

Maharashtra State Congress felicitated veteran activists who took part in the United Maharashtra movement prior to 1960. A function organised by Shiv Sena concluded few hours ago in which melody queen Lata Mangeshkar relived the mesmerizing moments of original ceremony on 50 years ago. She, alongwith many schoolchildren and chorus, recited the Maharashtra Geet (Song of Maharashtra). Sena chief Bal Thackeray was present at the event.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena could not lag behind in celebrating the milestone of the state. It had organised a grand program yesterday in Mumbai in which all stalwarts of the state, from Sachin Tendulkar, Sunil Gavaskar to Babasaheb Purandare were felicitated. Today, the party activists took out rallies in Pune displaying the great tradition of the state.

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Marathi Is Flavour Of Season Ahead Of May 1

With Maharashtra completing 50 years this May 1, the political activity is in full swing. The Congress-NCP government and almost every political party in the state is organising plethora of programmes to celebrate the foundation day of Maharashtra.

The flavour of the season is of course being Marathi. After Maharashtra Navnirman Sena achieved spectacular success in assembly elections, everybody is trying to appear Marathi.

The main official function would be at the sprawling Shivaji Park in central Mumbai in the morning. 'Suvarna Maharashtra Darshan' exhibition is also organised to mark the golden jubilee year of the formation of the state. Freedom fighters from Pune today took water from rivers and soil from the forts as well as historic places. These will be sprinkled at the Hutatma Chowk in Mumbai. The initiative is being implemented in all districts of the state.

A scintillating laser show would be organised at Girgaum Chowpatty and Marine Drive here on May 1, officials said. Not to be left behind, Shiv Sena and MNS have also organised separate programmes. After taking its blood donation to Guinness Book Of Records, Shiv Sena is relying on another magnificent event in which none other  than legendary Lata Mangeshkar will sing the Maharashtra song. The trivia in the event is that Mangeshkar had sung the same song, ‘Bahu Asot Sundar’ 50 years ago when a grand ceremony had taken place on May 1, 1960.

Not to be left behind, MNS has hogged limelight with the food festival being organised in Mumbai. The festival showcases cuisines from all over the Maharashtra and has drawn lot of visitors. A similar festival is organised in Pune also. Even the state government has organised a cultural event tomorrow at Shaniwar Wada.

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Government Sings MNS Song

As expected, the issue of taxi permits to only those who know Marathi has snowballed into a controversy. Hindi media has in its typical theatrical style found an analogy with the attacks on Indians in Melbourne.

This is the start of the morning and I am watching a Hindi news channel. The reporter is screaming, “Maharashtra government has issued this order on the basis of an old Act.” Probably the reporter or anybody on the editing desk have never heard about the Motor Vehicle Act, 1989 which is still in force. Compared to many laws in India, this Act is fairly new and updated. But the channel has to convey its point to some of equally ignorant audience and has to resort to half-baked information.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has got a shot in the arm with the government decision. Raj Thackerey can never thank Ashok Chavan more. The chief minister has handed Raj a perfect toy to play upon which is bound to provide a windfall in near future.

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Gear Changing Politics of Maharashtra

The Congress leadership in Maharashtra have once again demonstrated why the party is able to rule the state even after so many failures on many fronts. The government has succeeded in creating a issue which was non-existent, lending a hand to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan backtracked from state government's decision of giving licenses only to those taxi drivers who know Marathi.  He said taxi drivers should know any local language including Hindi and Gujarati.

The Congress and Nationalist Congress Party government had decided yesterday to give new taxi licenses to only those well versed in Marathi and state resident the state for at least 15 years.

Yesterday's decision was seen as toeing the line of Raj Thackeray led MNS. That was sure to create harsh reactions, especially from media leading to the backtracking. Now, after CM's volte face, MNS adopted the aggressive posture. Raj Thackerey has threatened that no new taxi will be allowed to come on road if the license is given to non-Maharashtrians.

On the face of it, MNS and Congress will be biggest beneficiaries of the developments arising from this issue. The inherent politics seems push Shiv Sena to more marginalisation as Shiv Sena presents itself as the champion of the Marathi cause. Predictably, it has come with condemnation of CM saying that Chavan has degraded the post. In the days to come, more verbal duel will follow. 

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Storm In the Session! Really?

Before the advent of each session of legislature, it is a kind of ritual now to carry the stories on possible issues testing government. Accordingly, this time the media is saying that Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance government is said to be pushed to corner over some issues. These are `leakage' of the Pradhan Committee report on 26/11 terror attacks and farmer suicides. The question is : will it really?

The winter session of Maharashtra is beginning at Nagpur on Tuesday. It is expected to be dominated by above issues. The opposition is grinding its axe to attack the government on leakage of the report and reported allegations by former Police Commissioner Hasan Gafoor. The top official has pointed four top police officers guilty of 'dereliction of duty' during the attacks. Allegations made by slain IPS officer Ashok Kamte's widow, Vinita, against Mumbai Crime Branch chief Rakesh Maria of mishandling the situation on 26/11 would also be raised in the House.

I suspect any furore will be raised over these issues. Was not it just three months ago that the same issues were predicted to bring a fall in government? Was not it that opposition parties, mainly Shiv Sena and Bharatiya Janata Party were betting heavily on farmers' suicides as their main election plank? Is it not futile to think that anything related with 26/11 will create a flutter, let alone a storm even one year after the incident and even when the main alive culprit Ajmal Kasab is yet to receive punishment?

With Maharashtra Navnirman Sena pursuing its own agenda of justice to locals, BJP still basking in the glory of retrieving leader of opposition's post in legislature assembly and Shiv Sena yet to come to terms with its lacklustre performance, who will raise questions and who will create a storm? Hence, even though the seriousness of questions being same, seriousness of any talk regarding serious business in assembly is a distant dream?

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MNS Attracts Strong Reactions

While political analysts and media is engaged in bashing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena over the incident yesterday in assembly house, there is equally strong reactions from the public in favour of the party. Marathi blogs are replete with the praise for the MLAs who staked their position in the incident. Surprisingly, Ramesh Wanjale, MLA from Khadakwasla constituency was also involved in the manhandling of Abu Azmi. Surprisingly, because he was not a genuine MNS member, but has recently switched over to the party from Congress.

MNS MLAs on Monday attacked Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi inside the state assembly for taking oath in Hindi and not in Marathi marking a violent debut for Raj Thackeray's party in the House. The house acted tough and passed a resolution suspending four MNS members from the House for four years within hours after the chaos. The MLAs were also accused of misbehaving with a woman MLA.

The resolution moved by parliamentary affairs minister Harshvardhan Patil to suspend  Shishir Shinde, Ramesh Vanjale, Ram Kadam and Vasant Geete was approved by voice vote.

Chief minister Ashok Chavan also did not rule out action against MNS chief Raj Thackeray saying this will be taken if the video footage of his reported comments outside the Assembly showed he had instigated his party MLAs. On the other hand, people justify MLAs demands. The members have chosen a right target as Azmi has a very bad reputation in Maharashtra and nobody is willing to support him. One of my friend who works in a reputed IT company called me in night. He said he was receiving many mails pointing to the whole incident. So much as I have read yet, nothing was criticizing MNS. Even those who were not hailing Raj or MNS, only chose to remain silent because they are ready to consent through their silence.

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Uddhav’s Brave Front: Too Late, Too Lame

That Uddhav Thackarey, executive president of Shiv Sena spoke over his party’s defeat after full four days after election results were out in itself speaks volume about his preparedness to tackle the situation head on. He might have taken this much time to come out of the shock he received at the hands of his cousin Raj Thackarey. Maharashtra Nanirman Sena has truly emerged as the party to watch during this election with its 13 elected members. Shiv Sena has received the worst drubbing in the sense that it has been relegated to fourth position in terms of number of seats. And worse is that BJP has come out with more seats than Shiv Sena, its alliance partner, even though the situation was other way round since 1984 when the alliance was formed.

What Uddhav has said shows that he is not ready to read the situation in its true sense. It was never a characteristic of Thackarey family, be it Balasaheb or Raj or Uddhav, to acknowledge own follies. The latest rhetoric from Uddhav goes on the same line. He is saying that MNS factor, which was key in losses suffered by Shiv Sena will be washed  out within two years. On the contrary, political analysts and observers, majority of whom constitute the detractors of MNS, are unanimous that it is MNS which is sure to play the role of main opposition party in next elections, unless some drastic measures are adopted by Shiv Sena.

Those measures are still to be seen. Uddhav missed to be a brave man in facing the loss generously. Instead, he hid himself and came out when his statement mattered too little. His analysis also did not show any hard hitting retrospection which could have helped the sinking fortunes of the party. It was a lacklustre statement and going by the common Shiv Sainik’s natural instincts, it was a lame excuse for the defeat.

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End of an epoch in Maharashtra politics?

With Diwali over, every politician, journalist and gossip mongers were behind the results of the assembly elections. While all major surveys and exit polls had gone in favour of the ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party alliance, they are still seen with a suspect given the impeccable track record of such surveys in the past. Opinion and exit polls are considered fickle next only to the forecasts by meteorology department in India. With large numbers of rebels, new enfant terrible like Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Jan Surajya Party and Republican Left Democratic Front, the fight was sure to be most difficult of all times. but even than that, this election will go down in the history of Maharashtra as one bringing an epoch to close.

That epoch of course being the political rivalry and influence of two personalities who have influenced the politics of state for over three to four decades. Yes, you guessed it right. After the result, Bal Thackerey, the Shiv Sena chief and Sharad Pawar, the NCP chief will not hold the sway like before in this election. Thackerey, who founded Shiv Sena in 1966 and headed single handedly since then is now an old tiger. He is credited with bringing the first non-Congress government in state which worked its full term. That this government was formed in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party does not make any dent in his contribution. On the contrary, he was the only acceptable mascot of the alliance in state.

Bal Thackerey was the chief pioneer of Marathi son of soil agitations. An entire party was built on this issue but he had to relegate the issue to give it a broader ambit, that of Hindutva. But such was his clout that not a finger was raised towards him for navigating to other waters. He had built a dedicated supporter base and those supporters were ready to follow him wherever he lead. No questions asked, no questions permitted either. For years on years, media watched him addressing rallies at Shivaji Park in Mumbai . People thronged in hordes, growing in numbers each year. Media used all sorts of words to downplay his cult following, ranging from rhetoric to venom. But he grew in clout. He grew manifolds. Soon, Shiv Sena was seen ruling in the Mumbai Municipal Corporation , next only perhaps to legislature assembly in terms of political and administrative importance. The power in the MMC also gave access to immense resources to the party. Within 25 years from the formation of the party, Shiv Sena was seriously challenging the hegemony of Congress rule. In 1990 assembly elections, the SS-BJP alliance missed political power by whiskers. Within a year, it got its biggest shock till then.

Chhagan Bhujbal left Shiv Sena in December 1991 since he was miffed after being ignored for the post of leader of opposition in state assembly. His expectation was justified as he was party’s lone knight in the assembly since 1985. Still, Thackerey, who was now called Balasaheb with an appreciative accent by even his detractors, did not mend his fences. He still kept his hold on the party, dictated his terms and reigned over Mumbai. With some favorable developments and vigorous campaigning, he managed to what he called, “Furl the saffron flag on assembly.” Even though SS-BJP combine suffered losses in later years, in terms of seats and human capital also, that Bal Thackerey is a catchword in the Maharashtra’s political scene is a foregone conclusion. From trade unions to Bollywood, from students to the average middle class person, from women to activists, there is no as mesmerizing thing as a call  from the octogenarian leader.

On his part, Thackerey has seldom missed a chance to show that he is a truckload of fire in his belly. For a party constantly harping on Chhatrapati Shivaji’s name for its livelihood, it is nothing less than a blasphemy to denounce the project of Shivaji memorial which is coming up in Arabian sea off Mumbai coast. It was not without nothing that the party telecasted a long interview of the Old Tiger recently on all major Marathi channels. It is a last ditch effort to encash its most successful brand in an era when the party is desperately missing the aggressive frontmen. This interview also proved that for Marathi audience, there is nothing as entertaining, as enthralling a presentation as a direct speech oratory of Thackerey.

Now with Shiv Sena losing the election, then it is over for Thackerey who pledged last time that he will not remove the beard unless the party is voted back in power. With his frail health and lost hopes, he is not expected to guide the party in next elections, let alone lead it. His struggles against the Congress will be recorded as a crusader who showed that David can fight the Goliath while becoming Goliath himself. We should see his latest outbursts against his nephew Raj for betraying the Marathi cause. At this age after so many decades, it is always hard to digest the bitter truth.

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Raj Charges Up the Scene-2

Spreading the Foothold


Shiv Sena started to spread its wing in the late 1980s. At that time, Raj was heading the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS), student wing of the party. He was also looking after Marmik, the weekly mouthpiece of party, chiefly drawing cover cartoons for the same. His grooming was done clearly by Balasaheb himself which was evident by the fashion in which he talked, spoke. His body language and mannerisms were just a replica of the original leader. Millions of party workers saw in him the next avatar of their beloved leader.

But the original leader thought in different ways. After the party shared power with BJP in 1995 to 99, he started promoting his own son Uddhav, who preferred his artistic hobbies over politics. A man of reclusive habits, he was seldom found in gatherings which was a hallmark of SS. This anchored a split in the party with Raj having no other option but to found his own. He waited for almost 10 years before giving birth to MNS.

That Raj opting for Son-of-the-Soil politics was less a choice than a logical conclusion. After following the same line for almost 20 years, he could have done little otherwise. A U-Turn over the policies was out of question. He bid his time before plunging into full stream. Also, by opting to pursue a hard agenda over the Marathi Manoos issue, he also took the game in the Shiv Sena’s court itself. This is the reason why Uddhav is targeting Raj more during the campaigning instead of ruling alliance in the state, which is his natural political enemy. He is well aware that in terms of oratory, pull and dedicated workers, he is no match to Raj. While Uddhav has given a new, sophisticated and mellowed image to SS, a vacuum was left for a party with stern activism. SS workers were fed on this mentality and they could not shed their aggression in trade of a corporate politics, which was never their cup of tea. SS was no longer a party of rioters and hoodlums. Raj capitalized on these elements.

To be fair to Raj, he did not chose violence as his primary recourse. Before the infamous agitation in early 2008 against North Indians, MNS had organized several programs encouraging Marathi literature and culture. Many instances can be given like organizing a book exhibition in Mumbai, drama festival in Pune. When MNS was in incubation mode, he personally visited all Ganesh Mandals all over the state. MNS had even sent letters to many government departments as a form of protest. Very few of those activities actually were reported by the media. Raj entered on first pages of print media and prime time of electronic media only when he raised his voice against Abu Azmi, whose credentials as a cultured politician is always in question. Before that period, even local periodicals thought it unnecessary to give enough space to the man. Whatever came related to Raj was either making a mockery of his activities or criticism.

By the time that agitation had come to an end, media had carved out a new Hitler and general Marathi public had got a redeemer. Polarization followed day by day, MNS was persecuted with each passing day. No stone was left unturned in demonizing the man and with each attempt, MNS and its leader become dearer to the public.

It came to such a passé that no Marathi channel could afford to bypass a rally addressed by Raj. No channel could throw a press release of MNS in the dustbin. There was a race between them to telecast the developments live to garner more and more TRP. OB vans from all channels waited outside Krishnakunj, Raj’s residence in Dadar area whenever there was a significant developments. Press conferences by Raj began to turn out into a houseful shows. Even then, he was seen someone who filled the need of a superstar in a entertainment deficient state. “yes, t’here is a crowd for him. But can he fight an election,” was a popular refrain from media quarters who in this age think it a kind of status symbol to keep their ears away from the ground.

The jolt came in parliamentary elections five months ago. MNS had put 12 candidates out of 48 in the state. Each candidate of the party, barring one in Pune, pulled up more than one lakh (0.1 million) votes. This was an eye opener for every player. In an era when the winning margin of a candidate does not generally crosses 25,000, the number of votes received by MNS was nothing less than a thunderbolt. It upset the ambitions of SS-BJP alliance in the state whose tally of seats remained just 21. These statistics are the basic foundation on which the duel between Thackerey cousin is going on currently in the state.

(To be Continued)

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Party time for rebels-2

State in a In-fighting state

Apart from Pune, the scene at the state level is also dismal. The biggest news of rivalry this time is that in the Amravati constituency. Sunil Deshmukh, a Congress minister in the state cabinet has accused President Pratibha Patil of misusing her position to get a ticket for her son Raosaheb Shekhawat. The party has denied a ticket to Deshmukh in favour of Shekhawat. Deshmukh has solace in the fact that various non-partisan organisations, including Vanrai have supported him. But he had little option to jump in the fray as a rebel candidate which he did.

In fact, Congress-NCP combine deliberately delayed announcement of candidates' list so as to avoid rebellion. Dilip Sopal, former NCP minister has filed his nomination from Barshi in Solapur distric against the official nominee. Another former NCP minister, Digvijay Khanvilkar is also standing in Kolhapur as an independent candidate. He was defeated in Kolhapur (South) by Satej Patil, then an independent candidate. In a twist of fate, Satej aka Bunty Patil is now official Congress nominee while Khanvilkar is his independent rival.

Most bizarre incident of rebellion occurred in Jamkhed in Ahmednagar district. Sharad Lokhande, sitting MLA from BJP was again given a ticket from the same constituency. But he rejected the ticket and made headed towards Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. The two time MLA is a MNS candidate now from Kurla. In a new low of part politics, chief minister Ashok Chavan's cavalcade faced footwear just yesterday. Chavan was at Loha near Nanded to address a rally in support of NCP candidate Shankar Dhongde. It is suspected that supporters of Pratap Patil Chikhlikar, sitting independent MLA from Loha did throw the footwear at CM. Chikhlikar is a supporter of Vilasrao Deshmukh, former chief minister and now union minister of heavy industries. He has supported the Congress-NCP government for last five years but does not have cordial relations with Chavan.

In Shiv Sena, the number of rebel is equally high. Sada Sarvankar, sitting legislator member of party has joined Congress. To top it, he has alleged that Uddhav Thackerey, executive president of Shiv Sena was behind the attack on Manohar Joshi's house which happened last week. That attack itself was indicative how widespread the discontent was in the party. For NCP, Udayanraje Bhosale, the descendant of Chhatrapati SHivaji is busy giving NCP a run for its money. He has already declared that he will field his own candidates in Satara district. The NCP MP from Satara has made enough statements to damage to standing of party in Western Maharashtra.

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Party time for rebels-1

Rebels Having a Feast on Official Candidates

Maharashtra, let alone Pune, is facing highest number of rebel candidates in the assembly elections. The state is especially known for its fighting spirit. But never in the history of electoral democracy was such a frenzy of candidates soliciting the votes from the electorates. What's worse, it is not limited to one party.

I have already written about the rebellion of Anna Joshi from Kothrud constituency. Chandrakant Chhajed, sitting MLA from now defunct Bopodi constituency, followed Joshi's suit by by fielding himself from two constituencies – Shivajinagar and Vadgaonsheri against the official Congress nominees. The three time Congress MLA could not gulp down the fact that he was denied ticket by his party. While Vinayak Nimhan, a rebel MLA of Shiv Sena is the official candidate from Shivajinagar, Vadgaon Sheri was given to Nationalist Congress Party, alliance partner of Congress.

Chhajed is known to be close to Suresh Kalmadi, member of parliament from Pune. He was instrumental in ensuring success for Kalmadi just five months ago.
While Anna Joshi switched over to NCP to contest election from Kothrud seat, Ujjwal Keskar, another prominent person from BJP stable is fighting it alone. He will also contest from the Kothrud constituency. He had made no bones about his wish to contest the election but the seat fell into Shiv Sena's lap during seat sharing bargaining. On the other hand, he seemed not ready to wait for another five years before diving into the state politics. This constituency seemed to have more rebel candidates than those of parties. Dipak Mankar, who was recently in a soup over the land grabbing cases was out of race in Congress for the candidacy. But he managed to get bail just on the eve of elections. He also filed his nomination from Kothrud making it difficult for Joshi.

Ramesh Vanjale, another notable figure in the district politics of Pune has switched over to two parties in the same league. The former member of Zilla Parishad has his origins in the Congress but was in talks with Shiv Sena for a ticket from Khadakwasla constituency. Later, when he realised it is not possible, he managed to get going in the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. 

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Confusion Party of Maharashtra

Even as the assembly elections fever is yet to catch up with public, political parties are finding it difficult to manage the unbearable tension. On the one hand, no party is sure as to whom it should align to. Secondly, the political atmosphere is so divided and obscure that no one has any idea of clicking it big this time. This is the most confusion times in Maharashtra.

Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, ruling for almost ten years in the state, are still entangled in the seat sharing war. Congress wants NCP to blink first and it has justification for its demand. It has garnered most seats in the recently held Lok Sabha elections. At the same time, NCP has suffered huge losses due to various factors. One of the major failures of NCP is in Satara district. Sharad Pawar, national chief of NCP chose Udayanraje Bhosale, 13th descendent of Chhatrapati Shivaji as party's candidate to consolidate Maratha votes. Even though Bhosale was elected, and he was destined to be as his leadership is unchallenged in the Satara constituency, he refused to align himself with the party's stand. Right from the campaigning, Udayanraje acquired a posture which more or less eroded party's position in Satara and eventually Western Maharashtra.

Unable to bargain for more seats, NCP is now trying its hard to hold on to existing seat sharing formula. But it is unlikely that it will get 124 seats. Congress leadership in the state was forced to eat many bitter pills in last ten years due to NCP's better position. Now, all the side effects of those pills are spilling out. Even if the sharing takes place, there will be much internal manoeuvring for the detriment of each other. A meeting of both parties is to take place at Varsha, the official residence of Chief Minister Ashok Chavan.

Opposition parties do not have a much unenviable position. While Shiv Sena has suffered losses in the urban belts in Lok Sabha elections, Bharatiya Janata Party has to put its own house in order before plunging in elections. The only solace these parties have is that they have an alliance in place and their seat sharing formula is almost finalised. Shiv Sena even though accepted to give same number of seats to BJP, but is yet to be convinced that its ally will be able to stand on its feet what with recent drama in the party. There was talk in the inner circle of BJP that Lal Krishna Advani will not be invited for the campaigning in the state. Neither will be Narendra Modi. This puts the onus on Gopinath Mundhe only.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, the new enfant terrible on Maharashtra's political scene is in the eye of discussion over the period. But it is still unclear whether the party will go it alone or will fight the election with others' help. Raj Thackerey, party's chief has made it clear that the party will not field candidates in all constituencies in the state. Besides, in some recent interviews to local newspapers and news channels, he has made it clear that his party will not share power with anyone. “My plan is to assume full power and never until then,” he has said. This effectively takes wind out of MNS' ship. The only thing now the party will achieve is eating in of the votes of Shiv Sena. Since both parties claim to address the same voter base.

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Election Preparation in Full Swing

The district administrations of Pune has completed process of removing banners and political ads from the public places, claimed district collector Chandrakant Dalvi today. Dalvi held a meeting of officers related to election work after which he addressed the media.
This is the first sign of election process coming into full swin g in Pune. Dalvi informed that a quick response team has been formed to look into the strict implementation of election code of conduct. He said that data entry of the voter's list has been prepared. All the lists will be made available on internet. In addition, two helplines will be started for the voters.
It is interesting here to note that Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla yesterday had admitted in Mumbai that the voters' list in the state are ridden with mistakes. However, EC has rejected the demand that ration cards should not be allowed as a proof of identity. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had made this demand with state election commission.

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Politics is family business in Maharashtra

State legislature assembly elections in Maharashtra are scheduled for October 13 in Maharashtra. All major parties in engaged in finalising the list of candidates. While the electoral clashes are heading towards theatrical and interesting, one bit of the polling is prominent. In each politicl party, the election is a family business. Leaders across the board have their offsprings or kins in the fray without a trace of remorse.

Leading the way is Congress which makes an obvious choice for hereditary politics. Since the time of Indira Gandhi, Congress workers are accustomed to bow before their anointed leader on the single virtue of coming from an influential family. This time around, party will have little space to take newcomers on board while struggling to make justice with sons and daughters of its leaders. Chief minister Ashok Chavan himself is such a politician who happens to be son of Shankarrao Chavan, the late Congress leader. Having graced posts of home minister and finance minister at New Delhi as also CM of Maharashtra twice, Shankarrao passed on his legacy to Ashokrao. He first tasted political water in 1987 by becoming Member of Parliament from Nanded, the seat was vacated by his father to become CM of Maharashtra. Ashokrao's brother in law Bhaskarrao Patil Khatgaonkar is now MP from Nanded.

Another prominent politician is Vilasrao Deshmukh, former CM of Maharashtra and now union minister for heavy industries. While his son Ritesh is making waves in Bollywood, his second son Amit is sure to solicit votes from Latur constituency. District Congress committee of Latur has 'unanimously' recommended Amit's candidacy. Dilip Deshmukh, brother of Vilasrao is already in the state cabinet coming from State legislature Council. Vilasrao's junior in union cabinet Pratik Patil is grandson of Vasantdada Patil who won recently from Sangli parliamentary constituency. Madan Patil, another son of Vasantdada is minister of employment guarantee scheme in state cabinet of Maharashtra. Another heavyweight of Sangli, Patangrao Kadam, who holds the empire of Bharati Vidyapeeth in Pune, is trying to field his son Vishwajit Kadam in the race. If elected, he is sure to bag a post in cabinet as Patangao is himself revenue minister currently. Towering all them all will be Raosaheb Shekhawat, president of India Pratibhatai Patil's son. He want a ticket for himself from Amrawati constituency. Praniti Shinde, union power minister Sushilkumar Shinde's daughter is in tipped to be a candidates from the Solapur assembly constituency. She will be the third member from Shinde family second being ….... Vandana Shinde, wife of Sushilkumar. She contested the seat in 2004 when Sushilkumar was CM and still lost the election. Present school education minister in Maharashtra Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil is son of veteran leader Balasaheb Vikhe Patil. Likewise, higher education minister Rajesh Tope is son of veteran Congress leader Ankush Tope.

If the list above seems exhaustive, it is not. It gives only a glimpse of what how political space is full of dynastic endowments. After Congress, Nationalist Congress Party has also turned democracy into a kind of baton relay. NCP's chief has kept two parliamentary seats with him as well as his daughter Supriya Sule. Ajit Pawar, state's water resources minister and guardian minister of Pune is his nephew. Thus, decision making in NCP is controlled by the Pawar family. Besides him, Padmasingh Patil, who is brother in law of Sharad Pawar was elected from Usmanabad recently to Lok Sabha. He was later accused of murder of his cousing Pravinraje Nimbalkar. Though, Padmasinh's son Rana Jagjitsinh Patil is a minister in the state cabinet and sure to get a ticket from NCP. State's tourism minister Vijaysinh Mohite Patil has sent his son Ranjitsinh Mohite Patil to Rajya Sabha. Ganesh Naik, who has a large following in Navi Mumbai area, was in Shiv Sena earlier but later switched to NCP. He is bringing his son to front now. Chhagan Bhujbal, another heavyweight who shifted from Shiv Sena to NCP, is now deputy CM. His nephew Samir Bhujbal was recently sent to Lok Sabha from Yewala constituency.
Shiv Sena and BJP are also not free of this element. Truth of the matter is that Shiv Sena split twice because of dynastic tendency of its chief. So much so that Balasaheb Thackerey was not ready to part with leadership other than his son Uddhav. His nephew Raj Thackerey and a stalwart like Narayan Rane left the party because of this reason. It is another matter that Rane himself has sent his son Nitesh to Lok Sabha while keeping minister's post with himself. He has openly expressed his desire to become chief minister and it is to be seen whether Nilesh Rane, his another son throws his towel in the ring.

In BJP, Dhananjay Munde, nephew of Gopinath Munde, who is member of parliament from Beed now, is willing to contest from Beed for 's assembly seat. His daughter, Pankaja Palwe is said to be ready to jump in the fray. Poonam Mahajan, late leader Pramod Mahajan's daughter was enraged when she was denied a ticket in parliamentary elections. Munde, who is brother in law of Pramod Mahajan, also expressed his dissatisfaction over the denial. This time round, Poonam is tipped to get a ticket from Ghatkopar West constituency. Some other minor leaders will also try to pass on the baton to their kins.

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The theater that is Maharashtra-Part 2

All these parties are already in the propaganda mode. While Congress-BJP alliance is harping on the development works in its ten year tenure, which is a classic case of self-eulogy, its rival alliance is also bent on giving prominence to Hindutva agenda. For a change, Shiv Sena under Uddhav Thackerey has really well etched out a role for itself in the sad series of farmer's suicide. The party is also taking up the load shedding issue, easily overlooking the fact that it can help little in the issue even if it comes to power.

Having set its target audience, MNS has little to present than the sorry state of Marathi people in their own state. Bad management of affairs by ruling alliance has made sure that MNS does not run out of fuel in its campaign. If MNS becomes a major power in the state after the election, it should thank more the ruling alliance than the voters.

As things stand out today, any of these parties can strike a partnership with any of the parties before or after the elections. It was rumours about Shiv Sena joining hands with NCP that is said to be a reason behind both the parties' debacle. It is after all only a question of convenience for the leadership of respective parties. One, NCP is fed up of living on the favours of Congress and want to have own rule. Second, Shiv Sena must have a partner to come to power as it is way short of winning the number's game. Third, both NCP and Shiv Sena thrive on the same electorate which mainly consists of rural, semi-literate youths and both the parties have same mentality. It is said about NCP that it is a party of fiefdoms. Shiv Sena is more than vocal in expressing its inclination towards the ancient way of politics. Fourth, Shiv Sena and BJP do not have the same cordiality that was 20 years ago. After passing of Pramod Mahajan, real connecting line between them has been cut. Present alliance is only a relic of two decades for amity. In fact, Shiv Sena thinks BJP more as a liability than the asset. Recent bickering in BJP at New Delhi only compounded the crisis. That is why Samana, Shiv Sena's Marathi mouthpiece daily recently compared BJP with the dead parrot while describing itself as an eagle. State leadership of BJP does not take it lightly but their hands are really tied. The party does not have a dedicated workforce to ensure smooth ride on its own. In its desperation, leaders like Gopinath Munde and Nitin Gadkari had even went further to suggest that their alliance should take in MNS as partner. The suggestion was naturally turned down by Shiv Sena because its rivalry with MNS is necessarily a clash of personal egos.

The world is a theatre, said Shakespeare. Now, Maharashtra has become an interesting theatre with a month long drama being enacted here. Let's applause the actors because without them, we would be left without any entertainment.

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The theater that is Maharashtra-Part 1

All kind of political manoeuvring is taking place in Maharashtra. With assembly election barely a month later and code of conduct in force, most of the dealings are taking place in back room discussions. This time the theatre is set in so fashion that one is having a feast of drama. There all players of all hues and colours as well as numbers in the fray. So nobody actually knows what will be the ending of this play.

In the Lok Sabha elections, it was expected that ruling Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will get a drubbing and Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will come out handsomely. But the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena played a perfect spoilsport to the Sena-BJP alliance. The result was that Congress emerged as frontrunner with 17 seats out of 48. Even though it shares power with NCP in state, Congress was in cloud seven when NCP suffered heavy losses managing to get only eight seats. Buoyed with this victory, Congress is bargaining for more seats this time for assembly elections. NCP being at receiving end is finding it hard to preserve its quota of seats at the level of year 2004. Interestingly, even though NCP had contested less seats last time, its tally of winning candidates was more than Congress in the assembly. Obviously enough, Congress does not want a repeat of that episode. Therefore it is trying to browbeat its rival-turned-ally in conceding more seats.

Upto now, elections in the state were limited to these four parties. But this time around, there are two-three more players who can give these parties a run for there money. Actually, MNS has already proved its mettle by eating up a large chunk of votes in Lok Sabha elections in April. However, Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) could not prove to be a worthy threat to the main players. Its political TRP was no doubt high but the performance on ground was almost invisible. Even in constituencies like Pune, where it touted its social engineering formula as its main plank by fielding D. S. Kulkarni and every political analyst was putting his bet on the candidate, it failed miserably to prove up to expectations. MNS has a large base of Shiv Sena activists and its Marathi Manoos agenda is already making waves in the people. I have seen it in places like Marathwada that people are ready to trust MNS and anticipate a good performance from the hitherto new party. However, the people also have too many complaints about the party not living to the expectation. It is not uniform in its activities and it seems as going into a slumber at times. Moreover, some recent incidents have put the party activists in a bad light. Accusations like extortion, kidnapping, rape and threatening have been levelled against the partymen, cases being already filed against them. Raj Thackerey, chief of MNS has shown no clear sign of dissociating himself or his party from the dirty elements. How this will affect the prospect of the party in election is better left to the people. I am never ready to make a pronouncement in this matter, because the Indian public is very tolerant when it comes to electing their representative. There is no surety that a person with heaps of criminal records or corruption charges will not get elected.

As for BSP, failure is not new to the party. It is contesting elections for over two decades in the state and has yet to make any mark. Still, it has an appreciable endurance which can help it win a handful of seats. In the October elections though, BSP's ship might sail in rough weather as various Dalit parties with splinter Left groups have joined hands against Congress_NCP as well as Shiv Sena-BJP. This new front is to address the same audience to that of BSP hence there might be a clash of interest between them. Major constituents of new front come from various groups of Republican Party. The reason for their coming together was defeat of candidates like Ramdas Athavale and Rajendra Gawai, who have hitherto earned their bread and butter by aligning themselves with Congress or NCP leadership. A main drawback of this new front is that it has only leaders and no workers. Even the front is planning to contest all 288 seats, it has hardly any chance of winning at more than a dozen seats. That a leader like Dr. Prakash Ambedkar is not in the front further limits the prospects of the front.

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