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Did Shiv Sena miss signals of discontent among its legislators?
These Sena leaders often publicly vented out their ire against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress
Pune: For the past few months, discontent was brewing among many of Shiv Sena’s legislators who are currently not reachable and reported to be in Surat with Eknath Shinde, who is leading the rebellion within the party.
These Sena leaders often publicly vented out their ire against the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress though the chief minister and party president Uddhav Thackeray did not take these disagreements seriously.
Be it Tanaji Sawant, Mahesh Shinde or Shahaji Patil, the three Sena legislators from Bhum Paranda (Osmanabad), Koregaon (Satara) and Sangola (Solapur) respectively, their disappointment with the NCP and the Congress was palpable for the past few days. All these three MLAs are with Eknath in Gujarat.
They, along with many others like Suhas Kande, MLA from Nashik or Adhalrao Patil, former MP from Shirur, have been publicly vocal against the NCP and the Congress for not letting them work and reducing fund allocation.
The Sena leadership turned a blind eye to their growing disenchantment, people close to some of these Sena leaders said, and was eventually caught unaware on Tuesday when Shinde along with other Sena MLAs reached Surat to raise a banner of revolt.
A senior Sena leader from western Maharashtra requesting anonymity said that the party leadership never contacted these MLAs despite rumblings.
“Possibly because the leadership did not want to disturb equations with the NCP and the Congress on whose support Thackeray has become the chief minister,” said the leader quoted here.
When reporters in Mumbai asked Sena MP Sanjay Raut about disenchantment among MLAs, he said, “If there is any issue, we will talk to them. I am confident that once they talk to the party leadership, all issues will be resolved.”
In January this year, Shahaji, startled many when he claimed that he could win the 2019 elections only due to the support of the BJP, NCP and other small parties, while lamenting that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has deprived seniors of ministerial birth.
Shahaji had said he was not given any ministry and was asked to keep quiet by his party after the elections. “There are only 1,100 votes of Sena in the tehsil. Despite that I was elected as an MLA due to the support of the BJP, NCP and other parties,” Patil had claimed.
In the past one year, there had been multiple instances where rumblings among leaders from the Sena and the NCP were on display or in some case, they have clashed over local issues through acrimonious statements made against each other.
Mahesh Shinde, who was with the BJP in 2019 but switched to the Sena as his Koregaon constituency went to Sena during seat sharing, was always loyal to the BJP and Eknath. He too had on multiple occasions clashed with the NCP, be it on funding for development work or Rayat Education Society, which is headed by Sharad Pawar. Mahesh had defeated NCP’s Shashikant Shinde in 2019 to become MLA.
In Pune district too, there were verbal clashes between the Sena and the NCP leaders. The three-time MP from Shiv Sena Shivajirao Adhalrao Patil also on multiple occasions in the past had expressed that the NCP is trying to “trample” Sena in Pune district. Adhalrao Patil had maintained that the NCP is trying to “finish” Sena even as the latter is following the alliance dharma. His grumble during January this year was over cancellation of bullock cart race he had organised in Khed-Ambegaon region on January 1. The race, according to Adhalrao Patil, was cancelled at the behest of the NCP, whose Dilip Walse-Patil comes from the same region and is home minister in the MVA government.
Political observers attributed silence from key Sena leaders so far was to avoid disturbing equations among three MVA partners. “Those maintaining silence right from top leadership are the ones who are beneficiaries as they have got key positions in the government,” said Chitra Lele, professor, political science.
