BJP, Shiv Sena, NCP, Congress & MNS: Maharashtra polls to decide fate of some key players

That the Maharashtra assembly election on October 15 will be the first state poll the Shiv Sena fights after its founder Bal Thackeray’s death in 2012, and solely under his son Uddhav’s leadership, must be weighing heavily on the latter’s mind.

Small wonder then Uddhav has been assertive like few thought he could be, and played hardball with the Shiv Sena’s ally of 25 years, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), on seat-sharing like never before. So much so the alliance has come precariously close to collapsing this week.

The upcoming election is the best chance for the 54-year-old to measure up to his charismatic and controversial father, and silence his critics both within the party and without, and he has left no stone unturned.


By standing up to a BJP chuffed by its emphatic victory in the general elections in April-May and humbled after its debacle in the by-polls, Uddhav seems to be signalling to his detractors the Thackeray legacy is in safe hands.

But the real verdict on his leadership will be out on October 19, when the results of the election are announced.

“The Shiv Sena was born as a movement which converted into a political party, so victory or loss does not affect it, but a win in this election would be a huge morale-boost to our cadres,” says party leader Bharatkumar Raut.

Strained Ties

While many chalk up the Shiv Sena’s stellar performance in the Lok Sabha election — it won 18 out of the 20 seats it contested — to the overwhelming backing for Narendra Modi, Uddhav has stressed his party’s role in the victory.

Last week he alluded to the BJP’s unimpressive performance in Tamil Nadu and Odisha to illustrate the importance of allies. The BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, which the Shiv Sena is a part of, won 336 of the 543 Lok Sabha seats. The BJP won all but one of the 24 seats it contested in Maharashtra.

After the victory, the BJP started flexing its muscles, demanding the old seat-sharing agreement between the two parties be reworked and even laid claim to the chief minister’s chair.

But on September 16, it received a jolt when it and its ally TDP won only 13 of the 33 assembly seats in by-polls in nine states, including in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, where the party had done exceedingly well in the general elections. This only added to the BJP’s worries as the party was still grappling with the death of its tallest state leader Gopinath Munde in a car accident this June.

As per the agreement between the two parties in 1989, the Shiv Sena would contest in 171 out of the 288 assembly seats in the state and the BJP in the rest, though there have been changes to it, and the BJP would get a larger share in the Lok Sabha elections.

Despite being the smaller party, the BJP has had a better strike rate than the Shiv Sena in every assembly election since 1990, and for the first time bagged more seats than the Shiv Sena in 2009.

“Since 1989, we have given the Shiv Sena six more Lok Sabha seats, but we have not got more assembly seats in return and we should,” BJP leader Eknath Khadse told ET Magazine in June.

The BJP’s impressive performance in the 2009 state polls coupled with the general election results this year emboldened the BJP to ask for as many seats as the Shiv Sena after accommodating their allies in the ‘Mahayuti’ (grand alliance) — Republican Party of India, Swabhimani Paksha, Rashtriya Samaj Paksha and Shivsangram, which are looking at 18 seats. Of the remaining 170, the Shiv Sena reportedly offered the BJP just 110 seats on Thursday, leaving 160 seats for itself, which the BJP turned down. Both the BJP and Shiv Sena on Friday said they wanted to continue the alliance.