Shiv Sena MPs ask Thackeray to support Murmu, mend fences with Shinde and BJP; Sena likely to back BJP nominee

The parliamentarians who attended a meeting called by Thackeray on Monday insisted that the party build bridges with Shinde and the BJP.

Mumbai: Under enormous pressure to retain control over party MPs, Shiv Sena chief and former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray is expected to announce support for Droupadi Murmu, the candidate of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) for the presidential election on July 18.

National Democratic Alliance (NDA)’s Presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu addresses during her felicitation function at Hotel Maurya in Patna, Bihar, India on Tuesday, July 05, 2022. (Santosh Kumar/Hindustan Times)

The parliamentarians who attended a meeting called by Thackeray on Monday insisted that the party build bridges with Shinde and the BJP. The meeting at Thackeray’s residence, Matoshree, was attended by 13 Lok Sabha and two Rajya Sabha MPs. Six Lok Sabha MPs, including chief minister Eknath Shinde’s son Shrikant, who represents the Kalyan constituency, did not turn up for the meeting. A Shiv Sena MP said the absenteeism was because they were informed about the meeting at the eleventh hour.

“We all authorized Uddhav-ji to take a decision regarding the presidential polls and he said this will be taken soon. A total of 11 Lok Sabha MPs present in the meeting asked that the Shiv Sena support Murmu. We also stressed on the need for a reconciliation with (party dissident and chief minister Eknath) Shinde and the BJP and for a way to overcome the present crisis,” said another Shiv Sena MP who did not wish to be named.

The Sena has 19 MPs in the Lok Sabha, including 18 from Maharashtra and one from the Union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli. The party also has three MPs, including party spokesperson Sanjay Raut in the Rajya Sabha.

The Sena parliamentarians are keen to effect the rapprochement and that Murmu, who is currently touring various states to seek support for her nomination, also meet Thackeray at Matoshree. The former Jharkhand Governor visited West Bengal on Monday and is expected to visit Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh later this week. She is expected to visit Mumbai on July 14.

The second MP quoted above said that the deal being hammered out is that Thackeray would first announce support after which Murmu is likely to meet him when she visits the city on Thursday. A third MP said that Thackeray is likely to announce his decision on Tuesday.

Rahul Shewale, the Shiv Sena MP from Mumbai South Central has already sought Sena’s backing for Murmu and is said to have taken the initiative to bring the party around.

If the Sena does so, it will be a departure from the choice of its Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance partners, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), who support former finance minister Yashwant Sinha for the president’s post.

However, support for Murmu will help the Sena save face and prevent a split in its votes, given that some of its MPs are said to be in touch with the Shinde-BJP camp.

BJP leader Ramdas Tadas, who is a MP from Wardha, had claimed on Sunday that there was resentment among Sena MPs, and 12 of them are keen to support the Shinde-led rebel faction. A split in the Shiv Sena parliamentary party may bolster Shinde’s claim that they are the “real” Shiv Sena.

However, this move to break ranks with the MVA partners’ choice may cause further stress in the alliance. For instance, NCP supremo Sharad Pawar expressed his unhappiness at Thackeray’s decision to rename Aurangabad and Osmanabad as Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv, during the last meeting of the MVA cabinet. On their part, Sena leaders loyal to Thackeray admitted that there was some substance in Shinde’s claims that the NCP was in the driving seat in the erstwhile coalition government, which often worked against the interests of the Sena.

Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP, denied being upset at the demand to support the NDA nominee and noted that in the past too, the Shiv Sena had risen above politics in presidential elections. In 1997, it supported former Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) TN Seshan against KR Narayanan (the latter won). In 2007, it again broke ranks to back Pratibha Patil, a Maharashtrian, over the BJP’s Bhaironsingh Shekhawat, as president (Patil won and served as the country’s first woman president). Five years later, it supported former finance minister Pranab Mukherjee for the top post — who won — instead of the NDA’s PA Sangma.

So far, Dr Shrikant Shinde and five-term Yavatmal-Washim MP Bhavana Gawali, who is the senior-most MP from Maharashtra have thrown in their lot with Shinde. The Sena has sought to replace Gawali as the party’s chief whip in the Lok Sabha with Rajan Vichare, a MP from Thane, and Shinde’s rival within the party.

Besides Shrikant Shinde and Gawali, Hemant Patil (Hingoli), Sanjay (Bandu) Jadhav (Parbhani), Kalaben Delkar (Dadra and Nagar Haveli) and Sanjay Mandlik (Kolhapur) were also absent. While Jadhav had fever, Mandlik was in Delhi. Delkar had sought permission to stay away, and Patil was in his constituency. Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai was in Delhi.