Time running out for MVA in Maharashtra
The Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP face an existential threat from their rival factions, which now hold office and are better placed to patronise supporters
Just as the INDIA bloc threatens to unravel, there are signs that a subset, the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in Maharashtra may be among the first to implode. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut has indicated his party may go solo in the upcoming local body polls unless the Congress acts to save the alliance. This development is not unexpected. The MVA is an unnatural alliance with no common ideological ground among its three constituents. The Shiv Sena (UBT), the Congress, and the NCP-SP came together in pursuit of office. Having performed disastrously in the assembly election, there is no incentive for them to stick together now. Worse, the MVA constituents are competitive and suspicious of each other — reflected in the extended seat talks and the lacklustre campaign ahead of the assembly polls. Post results, the parties have preferred to blame each other and the polling process for the poor show, rather than introspect why the voters rejected them.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) and NCP-SP face an existential threat from their rival factions, which now hold office and are better placed to patronise supporters. The sainiks, fed on decades of anti-Congressism and Hindutva, may privilege friendship with the BJP over the priorities of the Thackeray family. Against this backdrop, the Shiv Sena (UBT) may want to reclaim its ideological ground, rebuild the party, and re-establish supremacy in the state, especially in Mumbai, which has the richest corporation in the country.
With the state Congress seemingly lukewarm about the alliance, it will need political statesmanship to save the MVA. Significantly, the man who can do it, NCP-SP chief Sharad Pawar, recently backed Mamata Banerjee’s claim to lead the INDIA bloc. A below-par performance in Delhi will further erode the Congress’s authority, already sliding following losses in multiple state polls, and quicken the break-up of the MVA, first, and then, perhaps, the larger bloc.
