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By:

Akhilesh Sinha

25 June 2025 at 2:53:54 pm

Congress tries a ‘third’ hand

New Delhi: The BJP latest manoeuvre in elevating Nitin Nabin as the party’s national working president has had consequences in Maharashtra’s two biggest cities - Mumbai and Pune. The result has left the Congress party in a curiously ambivalent mood: quietly pleased by the opportunities created, yet wary of the turbulence ahead. In Maharashtra, the immediate beneficiary of the BJP’s move is Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The BJP’s organisational signal has strengthened its hand in the forthcoming...

Congress tries a ‘third’ hand

New Delhi: The BJP latest manoeuvre in elevating Nitin Nabin as the party’s national working president has had consequences in Maharashtra’s two biggest cities - Mumbai and Pune. The result has left the Congress party in a curiously ambivalent mood: quietly pleased by the opportunities created, yet wary of the turbulence ahead. In Maharashtra, the immediate beneficiary of the BJP’s move is Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena. The BJP’s organisational signal has strengthened its hand in the forthcoming elections to the BMC, Asia’s richest civic body, and in Pune, the state’s second city. For Shinde, whose legitimacy still rests on a contentious split with the party founded by Bal Thackeray, any reinforcement from the BJP’s formidable machine is welcome. For Uddhav Thackeray, who leads the rival Shiv Sena (UBT), the message is ominous. His party, once the natural custodian of Marathi pride in Mumbai, now faces the prospect of being squeezed between a BJP-backed Sena on one side and a revived Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by his cousin, Raj Thackeray, on the other. Shotgun Alliance That pressure has forced Thackeray into an awkward embrace with his estranged cousin. A reunion of the Thackeray clans, long rumoured and often aborted, has unsettled Thackeray’s MVA ally - the Congress. Signals from the party’s high command suggest a calculated distancing from Shiv Sena (UBT), particularly in Mumbai, where Congress leaders are exploring arrangements with smaller parties rather than committing to a Thackeray-led front. In Pune, the party’s pragmatism is even more pronounced. Quiet efforts are under way to entice Ajit Pawar’s NCP, currently aligned with the BJP, into a tactical understanding for the civic polls. Control of the municipal corporation, even without ideological harmony, is the immediate prize. For the embattled Congress, the civic polls offer a chance to do two things at once. First, by keeping a degree of separation from the Uddhav–Raj combine, it can strengthen its own organisational sinews, which have atrophied after years of playing junior partner. Secondly, it can allow the BJP–Shinde Sena and the Thackeray cousins to polarise the Marathi vote between them, leaving Congress to position itself as a ‘third pole.’ Such a strategy is particularly tempting in Mumbai. A tie-up with outfits like Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) could help Congress consolidate minority, Dalit and tribal voters, constituencies it believes are more reliably mobilised without the ideological baggage of Thackeray’s Sena (UBT). Severing or loosening ties with Shiv Sena (UBT) would also simplify Congress’s messaging ahead of assembly elections elsewhere. In states such as West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, where polls loom next year, the party has historically preferred alliances that allow it to emphasise secular credentials and oppose the BJP without accommodating overtly Hindu nationalist partners. Mixed Signals The Congress’ internal signals, however, are mixed. When talk of a Thackeray reunion resurfaced, Maharashtra Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar publicly welcomed it, arguing that Raj Thackeray’s limited but distinct vote share could help consolidate Marathi sentiment. Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad was more circumspect, hinting that alliances with parties prone to street-level militancy deserved scrutiny. Wadettiwar swiftly clarified that decisions would rest with the party’s senior leadership, underscoring the centralised nature of Congress’s calculus. In Pune, meanwhile, senior leaders are reportedly engaged in discreet conversations with Ajit Pawar, whose defection from his uncle Sharad Pawar’s NCP last year still reverberates through state politics. The outline of a broader strategy is becoming visible. Congress appears content to let the BJP and Shinde’s Sena draw on non-Marathi and anti-dynasty voters, the Thackerays appeal to wounded Marathi pride while it quietly rebuilds among minorities and lower-caste groups. Mumbai Approach Mumbai’s demography lends some plausibility to this approach. Alongside its Marathi core, the city hosts millions of migrants from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand, a constituency that has increasingly gravitated towards the BJP. Raj Thackeray’s strident rhetoric against North Indians, once electorally potent, now risks narrowing his appeal and complicating Uddhav Thackeray’s efforts to broaden his base. None of this guarantees success for Congress. Playing the ‘third pole’ is a delicate art. Yet, the Congress, struggling for survival, has few illusions about sweeping victories. Its aim, for now, is more modest – it is to survive, to remain relevant, and to exploit the cracks opened by its rivals’ rivalries. In Maharashtra’s civic chessboard, that may be advantage enough.

‘How there was no blood if she fell from 14th floor?’

Updated: Mar 21

Disha Salian’s father’s allegations against Aaditya Thackeray hits up politics

Disha Salian

Mumbai: Satish Salian, the father of a celebrity manager Disha Salian, has raised several questions regarding her suspicious death in his petition to the Bombay High Court.


“Overall, looking at the entire investigation, I think it is murder,” Salian told Republic TV. “Because a person's body falls from the 14th floor, but still there is not a single injury visible on that person's body. There is no injury anywhere on the head, so how can this happen? We need to think about this. Even if a body falls from the 14th floor, how can that body remain clean?"


Salian produced photographs and videos of Disha’s dead body for the first time since her death on June 8, 2020. Her head and face are seen clean without any injury mark. In their investigation, the Mumbai Police had concluded that she had jumped from her 14th floor apartment in Malad.


Salian said, “There was no pressure on me from anyone. However, I was convinced that way. Also, I had faith that Disha’s friends who were present at the party on that night would never lie about what happened. Also, the police had told us at that time that it was a suicide. We had trusted the police then.”


He said then Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednekar had come to his house and convinced him that Disha had ended her life.


Salian’s lawyer Nilesh Ojha said from the first days of the incident, Satish Salian had the same question that not a single drop of blood was seen after falling from the 14th floor. Also, not a single drop of blood was found on the clothes. “The most important thing is that when Disha Salian's body was handed over to her family, there was no injury on her body. Then how come there was no injury after falling from the floor of the building? This is the question,” said Ojha.


Ojha, told ANI, “During the murder, Uddhav Thackeray's government was there (in Maharashtra), and the accused was his son Aaditya Thackeray. The corrupt police officials tried to cover up the case. After 2.5 years, Shinde's government came, and Fadnavis was the Home Minister. This matter has not come all of a sudden.”


He further added, “On 12th January 2024, a written complaint was filed accusing Aaditya Thackeray, Sooraj Pancholi and others of gang rape. FIR was not registered for more than one year. The affidavit filed by Aaditya Thackeray stated lies that he was given a clean chit by the CBI in the case. There is also proof that Anil Deshmukh didn't want any action (on Aaditya Thackeray).”


As this happened, Ojha said that Disha's father approached him to file the petition. "Nothing happened, but the conversations around it made Disha Salian's father realise that he had been lied to, and he came to us. After that, his petition was drafted and filed," he said.


Demanding that the police officials who failed to register an FIR be penalised, Ojha said that action must also be taken against the SIT official as per the Supreme Court's guidelines on rape and murder cases. Otherwise, the concerned police officials must be penalised as per the relevant sections of IPC. In this case, they have failed to register a case in over a year. This is a serious matter, and action must be taken against the SIT official, he said.


"The affidavit filed by Aaditya Thackeray stated lies that he was given a clean chit by the CBI in the Disha Salian case...Anil Deshmukh also didn't want any action (on Aaditya Thackeray)," Ojha added.


Reacting to Salian's plea, Kishori Pednekar called it a conspiracy. “Someone is behind it, and there is a conspiracy. How come this matter has come under the spotlight after more than four years? The CID conducted an enquiry, there is already an SIT (formed to probe the matter),” Pednekar told PTI.


ree

“I was surprised how come this (Salian) issue was not raised in the last 2-3 sessions. There is nothing new in it as this issue has been raised repeatedly in the House in the past. There is no substance in this issue. But if politics is being done in such a bad way then it will hurt everyone. I want to tell these people that if you want to turn falsehoods into truth, then it will also boomerang on you.”

Uddhav Thackeray, Chief, Shiv Sena (UBT)


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