Unless a miracle restores the numbers and authority of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of Maharashtra led by Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, it’s likely to be a chapter in the state’s political history sooner or later. The crisis in the government is the result of the rebellion in the party Thackeray presides over, the Shiv Sena. With the rebel faction, led by Eknath Shinde, claiming more than 40 MLAs – higher than the two-thirds required to skirt the anti-defection law and establish itself as the “real” Shiv Sena – the stage is set for a hard battle not only to be in government but also to take over the political legacy of Sena founder and Uddhav’s father, the late Bal Thackeray.
For a man who seemed to be on the top of his game after the Assembly election result in October 2019 – from snapping ties with his party’s natural ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), to forming an unnatural alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party, and become the Chief Minister without prior administrative experience – Uddhav Thackeray today looks like a lost leader, a lost man. He vacated the Chief Minister’s official residence, Varsha, earlier this week. If or when he steps down as Chief Minister – unless that miracle offers him a lifeline – he would want to reflect on what he walks away with.