A son rises in Thane

Over the past few months, Shrikant, the two-term MP from Kalyan, has emerged as a powerful member of the Shinde camp. In fact, he is clearly seen as Number Two, handling as he does organisational matters and political management of the fledgling party.

Mumbai: Thane city, the stronghold of chief minister Eknath Shinde, was bursting with banners and hoardings wishing him on his birthday on February 9. What was unmissable was the fact that almost all had party workers/followers greeting not just Shinde but also his MP son, Shrikant, whose birthday falls five days earlier.

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In a way, this was symbolic. Over the past few months, Shrikant, the two-term MP from Kalyan, has emerged as a powerful member of the Shinde camp. In fact, he is clearly seen as Number Two, handling as he does organisational matters and political management of the fledgling party. Shrikant keeps a close eye on his father’s decisions and engagements as chief minister and is also his point person in New Delhi.

Not surprisingly then, many in the corridors of power vie to get into Shrikant’s good books. Party leaders, officers and businesspersons make a beeline for him, and he is often seen holding parleys with partymen at ‘Nandanvan’, Shinde’s previous official residence before he shifted to ‘Varsha’. According to Shinde camp insiders, the CM relies on his son for many things. Shrikant, an orthopaedic surgeon who joined politics at the behest of his father, is surely emerging as a power centre.

With the BJP going all out to woo Mumbaikars, it is surmised that the civic polls could be a few weeks away. Even as the party courts the North Indian-Gujarati combine, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray has been trying to get North Indians, the second largest linguistic group after Marathis in Mumbai, over to his side, and on Sunday, addressed them in a meet in Goregaon.

The Sunday outreach happened just a few days after his son, Aaditya, called on Tamil Nadu CM and DMK chief M K Stalin in Chennai. Earlier, he had met Bihar deputy CM Tejaswi Yadav and could meet former UP chief minister Akhilesh Yadav soon. Tamilians, Biharis and UPiites are part of the non-Marathi speaking populace in the city, and it is safe to assume that the Thackerays are trying to build bridges with them. Even a small chunk of their votes could help the Sena in close fights in the civic polls.

If Thackeray succeeds, one may even see the return of his ‘Mee Mumbaikar’ campaign. He had launched the campaign of inclusiveness after he became Shiv Sena executive president in 2003 to widen the party’s support base. It took off well but nosedived after Sena workers, reportedly close to his cousin Raj Thackeray, bashed up candidates from the North who had come to Kalyan for a railway recruitment examination. Uddhav had to roll back the outreach plan but could well try his hand at it again now while facing the tough electoral battle for survival in Mumbai.

Praniti versus Rohit

Congress MLA Praniti Shinde and NCP MLA Rohit Pawar have been involved in a public spat over the Solapur Lok Sabha constituency. It began with Rohit telling the media during a visit to Solapur that the NCP had demanded the seat, though a decision on which party would get it would be taken by the MVA coalition. This irked Praniti, whose father Sushilkumar Shinde was MP from Kolhapur and had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 2014 and 2019. “Who is Rohit Pawar?” she shot back when the media asked for her reaction to Rohit’s comments. “He is a first-time MLA. Give him some time. He will gain in maturity.”

The brush-off led to protests by angry NCP workers, who pointed out the good relations between the senior Shinde and Rohit’s great-uncle, Sharad Pawar. There has been speculation that Praniti could contest from the seat in the coming elections—a plausible explanation of why she was not amused by Rohit’s remarks.

Rooting for Ajit Pawar as CM

Over the past few days, young NCP MLAs have begun rooting for Ajit Pawar as a candidate for the chief minister’s post. Nilesh Lanke, the MLA from Ahmednagar district, while addressing a party meeting, appealed to his colleagues to work hard to ensure that Ajit became the next chief minister. Following him, a party MLA from Hingoli, Raju Navghare, too said they would love to see Ajit as chief minister. And on Saturday, party chief Sharad Pawar’s grand-nephew Rohit Pawar said that Ajit had the capacity to handle the responsibility of the chief ministership.

While the next assembly election is in October-November 2024, the political situation in the state is still unpredictable, with the Supreme Court case on the disqualification of CM Shinde and rebel Shiv Sena MLAs still pending. The sudden statements by NCP MLAs have led to speculation. Is the party sending out a signal to its MVA allies? Or is Ajitdada flexing his muscles within the party?