Not many would have thought earlier than the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections that Uddhav Thackeray, son of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, might snap ties along with his get together’s all-weather ally BJP, and change into chief minister to go an unlikely coalition with the NCP and Congress.
Thackeray, thought-about a soft-spoken man vis-a-vis his aggressive father, took oath because the 18th chief minister beneath the tripartite alliance in November 2019, the primary in his household to carry a public workplace.
His father, a Hindutva icon who based the get together, had by no means assumed any place within the authorities, however wielded the ‘remote control’ over the primary Sena-BJP authorities throughout 1995-99.
An ace photographer, the in any other case affable, mild-mannered politician, Uddhav had displayed combative traits of his father in coping with the BJP on the demand for rotational chief ministership simply after the 2019 Assembly ballot outcomes have been introduced.
He himself mentioned a number of instances that though he was not eager on taking over the highest publish after the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was fashioned, it was NCP chief Sharad Pawar who insisted him to tackle the mantle.
But two-and-a-half years later, 61-year-old Thackeray’s innings as chief minister got here to an abrupt finish on Wednesday after Eknath Shinde, a senior Shiv Sena chief, rebelled towards him and a majority of Sena MLAs joined the insurgent camp.
The youngest son of Bal Thackeray, Uddhav, also referred to as ‘Digga’, had began serving to his father within the get together affairs within the early Nineteen Nineties.
A soft-spoken politician, he was elevated to the publish of govt get together president in 2003 over his youthful cousin Raj Thackeray, thought-about to be extra charismatic and aggressive. Incidentally, Raj had himself proposed Uddhav’s identify for the publish at a celebration conclave in Mahabaleshwar.
This elevation led to splits within the get together. Senior chief and former chief minister Narayan Rane give up in 2005, adopted by Raj. But via these storms, the Shiv Sena managed to win the essential Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) elections in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017.
When Bal Thackeray died in 2012, many get together critics predicted that this could be the top of the Sena. But proving these predictions mistaken, Uddhav Thackeray managed to carry the get together collectively, and likewise led its transformation right into a mature political outfit from its earlier avatar as a celebration of road fighters.
Known as an ace wildlife photographer, he additionally dabbled in aerial images. Some footage of forts in Maharashtra, taken by him, adorn the partitions of the New Maharashtra Sadan in Delhi.
Thackeray, who additionally loves driving, on Wednesday drove himself from ‘Matoshree’ to Raj Bhavan to submit his resignation to the governor.
In 2014, when the Shiv Sena and BJP parted methods to contest polls independently, Thackeray spearheaded his get together’s marketing campaign and it emerged because the second largest get together within the state meeting after the BJP. But the Shiv Sena once more joined fingers once more with the BJP later to type the federal government.
In 2019, the 2 events cut up over the publish of chief minister and the Shiv Sena joined fingers with the Congress and the NCP.
“Whatever I do, whether I desire it or not….but once I take up the task, I do it with determination,” Thackeray had mentioned throughout his Facebook Live final week.
This willpower has been a continuing all via his political profession that noticed Shiv Sena witnessing ups and downs since he first took over because the performing president and get together chief after his father Bal Thackeray’s loss of life in 2012, after the revolt inside the get together.
His management through the worst phases of the coronavirus pandemic got here in for reward. But a bit of Shiv Sena leaders complained that he was inaccessible as get together president and CM.
Several Sena leaders have been additionally uncomfortable with the get together’s alliance with arch-foes Congress and NCP, which ultimately proved to be the alliance’s undoing.
The discontent inside the get together fold lastly got here to the fore after Shinde brazenly raised a banner of revolt with many get together MLAs siding with him. The revolt set off hectic political actions with Thackeray final week quitting his official residence and at last resigning from the publish, a day earlier than the scheduled flooring take a look at.
However, he has now made it clear that though he has vacated the chief minister’s chair, he’ll now be sitting on the Shiv Sena Bhavan, the get together’s headquarters, to satisfy the get together leaders and employees.
But the larger problem for Thackeray might be to maintain his flock collectively and revive the get together from a physique blow by the rebels.
Source: www.financialexpress.com”