CM Devendra Fadnavis' customary tea party on the eve of Assembly Session. | Pic: DGIPR Mumbai: The facade of unity within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) has suffered a significant blow on the eve of the Maharashtra Legislature’s budget session. What was meant to be a show of strength against the Mahayuti government has instead exposed deep-seated mistrust and conflicting ambitions, primarily centered around the upcoming Rajya Sabha elections. The cracks were most visible during the customary opposition press conference and the boycott of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’s tea party, where leaders from Sharad Pawar’s NCP (SP) were conspicuously absent, signaling their exclusion from the alliance’s core decision-making process. The primary source of friction is the lone Rajya Sabha seat that the MVA can mathematically secure with its combined strength of roughly 50 MLAs. Sources reveal that Uddhav Thackeray has been in direct, exclusive contact with the Congress high command in Delhi to negotiate the candidacy, reportedly keeping the Sharad Pawar faction entirely out of the loop. This exclusion has sparked rumors of a shifting power dynamic within the MVA, where the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Congress appear to be forming a "primary bloc," leaving the veteran Pawar to navigate the political waters independently. Adding to the internal turmoil is a sharp public disagreement within the Shiv Sena (UBT) itself. While party spokesperson Sanjay Raut has publicly advocated for giving Sharad Pawar another term in the Rajya Sabha as a gesture of alliance solidarity, he has been met with stiff resistance from within his own camp. Former minister Aaditya Thackeray has countered this stance by citing the cold arithmetic of the assembly. Aaditya argued that based on current numbers—where the Sena (UBT) holds 20 seats compared to the NCP (SP)’s 10—the claim to the seat naturally belongs to the Thackeray faction. He further remarked that Raut requires a more aggressive "companion" in the Upper House to sustain the party's offensive against the central government, hinting that the seat should go to a loyalist rather than an ally. The timing of this internal rift is particularly delicate as Sharad Pawar struggles with health issues. The 85-year-old leader was admitted to Pune’s Ruby Hall Clinic for the second time in a fortnight on Sunday, suffering from mild dehydration and fatigue. His hospitalization has cast a shadow of uncertainty over his own plans for re-election, even as his allies debate whether to support him or field their own candidates. The broader political landscape further complicates the MVA's predicament. With the Mahayuti alliance—comprising the BJP, Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena, and the NCP—holding a dominant majority, they are expected to sweep six of the seven Rajya Sabha seats. The MVA’s inability to settle on a single candidate for the seventh seat not only threatens their chances of an unopposed victory but also provides the ruling coalition with an opportunity to exploit these growing divisions. As the budget session begins, the MVA faces the daunting task of proving that it is still a cohesive unit, or risk entering the 2026 electoral cycle as a house divided.
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