Why is the MVA vehicle stuck in the name of Uddhav in Mumbai?
When Uddhav Thackeray met Sharad Pawar, Rahul Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge in Delhi last week, it was said that all Mahavikas Aghadi issues regarding Maharashtra had been resolved. Uddhav Thackeray will be the CM face and Congress will contest in more seats, but these resolved issues in a week have been complicated by the statements of 3 leaders.
The first statement is from former Chief Minister and Congress leader Prithviraj Chavan. He has said that the decision on the CM face in Mahavikas Aghadi will be taken after the election. The party that wins the most MLAs will become the Chief Minister. Another statement has been given by Congress President Nan Patole. Patole has said that if Uddhav and Sharad Pawar speak in CM’s face, I should react a little.
The third statement has been given by Sharad Pawar, founder of Mahavikas Aghadi in Maharashtra. Senior Pawar has said that Prithviraj Chavan’s statement cannot be ignored.
MVA, Uddhav Thackeray and CM face off
Assembly elections are to be held in Maharashtra after 2 months. Mahavikas Aghadi (Shiv Sena-Uddhav, NCP-Sharad and Congress) is contesting against Mahayuti (Shiv Sena-Shinde, NCP-Ajith and BJP). In 2019, Sharad Pawar played an important role in forming the Mahavikas Aghadi government.
At that time, Uddhav Thackeray was declared the Chief Minister by the Mahagathbandhan. However, this government could last only 3 years under the leadership of Uddhav. There was a split in Uddhav’s party in 2022 and in Sharad Pawar’s party in 2023. People who broke away from both the parties formed an alliance with the BJP and formed the government.
Mahavikas Aghadi dealt a blow to the BJP alliance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Due to this result, the morale of Mahavikas Aghadi parties is high and all eyes are on the assembly elections.
Seeing this, there is a demand to reveal the CM’s face. Shiv Sena argues that Uddhav’s government collapsed and an anti-Mahayuti atmosphere has been created in his name, so Uddhav Thackeray should be made the CM face. Recently, Uddhav also commented on this. Uddhav said that colleagues should be told how I worked?
According to Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, Uddhav was made the Chief Minister by the Maha Vikas Aghadi in 2019. Uddhav is popular across Maharashtra and NCP and Congress have no face to compete with him, so Uddhav will be a face in the election.
Local Congress leaders are not ready
Although the Congress High Command has not said much about this proposal of Shiv Sena, the local Congress leaders are not ready for it. Local Congress leaders are citing the same equation of 2019 for this. In 2019, Shiv Sena had the highest number of seats, so Uddhav Thackeray was made the Chief Minister on behalf of Shiv Sena.
NCP was the second party so the party got important portfolios like Deputy CM and Home Finance. The third-placed Congress got portfolios like education and revenue.
Congress has won maximum 13 seats in the Lok Sabha elections. This number has increased the hope of Congress. The party feels that it can win maximum seats in the assembly elections as well, so the party does not want to give up its claim for the CM post. This is why Prithviraj Chavan and Nana Patole are speaking directly on this.
One of the reasons for the opposition of these leaders is the ambition and age factor. Nana Patole is currently 61 years old and if Uddhav agrees to command now, it is unlikely that he will ever get the chair in future.
Prithviraj Chavan is also in a similar situation. Chavan, who became Chief Minister in political activities, is now 78 years old. These are the two big names among the contenders for the post of CM from the Congress. Patole left the BJP and joined the Congress to take over the overall command.
Does Sharad Pawar play?
The way Sharad Pawar has reacted to Uddhav’s CM face has sparked a new debate in the political circles of Maharashtra. Is Sharad Pawar creating trouble in the name of Uddhav?
In 2019, at the time of formation of Mahavikas Aghadi, the three parties agreed on Uddhav’s name. Uddhav was also going to claim to form the government, but Sharad Pawar played the demand game.
Because of this, Uddhav missed presenting his claim in the Raj Bhavan and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari recommended President’s rule. However, President’s rule was removed from Maharashtra within a month due to Devendra’s oath.
In such a situation it is now being said that Sharad Pawar is trying to increase his negotiating power by creating trouble in Uddhav’s name. So far, the picture was clear with only two parties in the coalition. In this, there was talk that Congress will contest in more seats and Uddhav of Shiv Sena (UBT) will be made the CM face.
However, since Sharad Pawar’s inception, there has been a demand for all parties to contest elections on equal number of seats.
