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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

‘Tiger’ shrinks to an ‘alley cat’

The Shiv Sena founded by the late Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray in 1966 may have little reason to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee tomorrow – in his birth centenary year. For the second time in four years today, the party – now, Shiv Sena (UBT) - has suffered a potential split, ironically led by Eknath Shinde who first broke away on June 21, 2022. Political soothsayers aver that this time the bodily harm is serious and the wound goes deep, so the party - which espoused the cause of the ordinary...

‘Tiger’ shrinks to an ‘alley cat’

The Shiv Sena founded by the late Balasaheb Keshav Thackeray in 1966 may have little reason to celebrate its Diamond Jubilee tomorrow – in his birth centenary year. For the second time in four years today, the party – now, Shiv Sena (UBT) - has suffered a potential split, ironically led by Eknath Shinde who first broke away on June 21, 2022. Political soothsayers aver that this time the bodily harm is serious and the wound goes deep, so the party - which espoused the cause of the ordinary Marathi manoos and the lofty Hindutva - may not survive another hit in future. In the past 60-years of its high-profile existence - in power for around17-and-half years and the rest in the limelight – the party has had its share of rebellions and splits, but it managed to bounce back due to the sheer awe of the Thackeray surname. It all started 35 years ago with the doughty Chhagan Bhujbal who dared to bare the Shiv Sena’s shortcomings and quit in Dec. 1991 – stunning the party that ran on the signals or just a wave of Balasaheb’s hand. His abrupt exit along with 18 MLAs after a tiff with his mentor. Though many MLAs returned as Balasaheb roared his disapproval, Bhujbal seemed to politically flourish and made it to the post of Deputy CM, and later as Minister for many years. After deserting Balasaheb, Bhujbal had joined the Congress, then led by Sharad Pawar who later broke off to form the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in 1999 where Bhujbal followed him. However, in July 2023, when the late Ajit Pawar split the party founded by his uncle, Bhujbal went with him, dumping his original Guru, Sharad Pawar, now left with the NCP (SP). Come 2005, there was another huge blow when ex-Chief Minister and the then Leader of Opposition in Assembly Narayan Rane was expelled by Balasaheb following (Rane’s) differences with Uddhav Thackeray, then the party’s Executive President. Rane hopped over to the Congress on the assurance of getting the CM’s gaddi, but it never came, so he quit the party to form his own outfit, which he merged with the Bharatiya Janata Party and became a union minister. In November 2005, Balasaheb’s nephew Raj Thackeray resigned from the party after multiple tiffs with his cousin, Uddhav, and four months later, founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which has yet to taste power. For nearly two decades, the warring cousins were practically at each other’s political throats, but in mid-2025, they finally hugged, kissed and made up for the larger cause of Marathi language, the Marathi Manoos, and other common points. When Uddhav broke ranks with the BJP to become the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) Chief Minister, he got a rudest jolt of his life when Eknath Shinde masterminded a rebellion, took away 40 MLAs and toppled him from the ‘gaddi’. Shinde allied with the BJP to become the CM of the Maha Yuti government for almost two-and-half years. However, after the Nov. 2024 elections, the BJP made him the Deputy CM, and later Ajit Pawar joined as the second Deputy CM in July 2023. When the MVA of SS (UBT), Congress and NCP (SP) notched a spectacular performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections getting 31 of the 48 seats they contested, all eyes were on its MPs, but later the Maha Yuti romped home in the November 2024 Assembly elections. After long planning and strategizing, Shinde allegedly launched the Operation Tiger and is one the verge of weaning away 6 out of 9 SS (UBT) Lok Sabha MPs – a second vertical split the Uddhav-led party suffered in four years. Over the past three decades, there were other ‘ayarams’ and ‘gayarams’ including the aggressive Sanjay Nirupam, who quit the (undivided) Shiv Sena, joined the Congress and is currently with Shinde’s party.

Knives out in legislature

Updated: Mar 21, 2025

Disha Salian

Mumbai: Death of celebrity manager Disha Salian in 2020 once again rocked the Maharashtra legislature on Thursday. While cabinet ministers Nitesh Rane and Shambhuraj Desai demanded that Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray be arrested in the case, BJP MLA Amit Satam in the assembly and another BJP member Chitra Wagh in the council demanded that the report of SIT to probe Salian’s death be made public.


Incidentally, amidst repeated disruptions in both the houses, some members from the treasury benches were seen speaking in favour of Aditya Thackeray, while Shiv Sena (UBT) members like Adv Anil Parab were seen supporting the BJP members’ demand that the report of the SIT probe be made public. In addition, there were allegations and counter allegations and personal accusations among members from the treasury and opposition benches which led to heated debate on occasions.


The opposition termed the attempts from the treasury benches to link Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aditya Thackeray’s name in the case, as a ‘conspiracy’.


“I think this matter has gone to the court. We have no idea what he (Disha’s father) has said, but Aaditya Thackeray is a mature leader, a young leader. The Bharatiya Janata Party is conspiring to defame him by putting pressure on him. We don’t need to answer to this conspiracy. The court will answer,” Ambadas Danve said.


Earlier in the day, when the house gathered for the business, Minister of State for Home appraised the assembly of the status in this case. “SIT has been formed to probe in the case. Their report has not been received as yet. However, the government shall act according to directives from the court,” the minister told the house.


Another BJP minister Nitesh Rane, however, said that since Satish Salian has levelled allegations against an MVA minister, that leader be treated like a common person and that everybody should be treated equally before the law. Shiv Sena minister Shambhuraj Desai too supported the demand. “Since the allegations are grave, the person in question should be immediately arrested and the case be investigated,” he said.


Later, while speaking to media in the legislature premises, Rane asked Uddhav Thackeray to come clean on the issue. “If they say that we are politicizing the issue, Uddhav Thackeray should also tell the people why he had called, not just once but twice, to the then union minister Narayan Rane urging him to save his son?” Rane said.


He also accused the opposition of shying away from coming clean on the issue. “If they feel that we are not telling the truth, they should say so in the house. But they are shying away from doing so. Bhaskar Jadhav, who is always aggressive, was nowhere to be seen when this issue came up in the house. Sunil Prabhu too escaped the house under the pretext of a phone call. I challenge them to say that whatever I said on the issue is wrong,” Rane said.


He also said that Aditya Thackeray should resign on moral grounds till his name is cleared in the case.


BJP MLA Amit Satam demanded that the details of the SIT probe be made public so that the people would know if the probe is headed in right direction.


Interestingly, while the ruling parties were targeting the opposition in the case, senior BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar surprised all with his unexpected support to Thackerays. “I do not have any evidences in the case. But if her father has made any fresh allegations that needs to be investigated thoroughly. The assembly can discuss the issue at length tomorrow. In the meanwhile, members like Rane, who seem to have some evidences in the case should hand them over to the investigating agencies and help the probe,” he told the house.


Shiv Sena’s Sanjay Gaikwad and Sheetal Mhatre too toed the line and demanded that more and more evidences should come forth.


Similarly, when members of treasury benches were pushing for revealing the details of the probe till date to the public, Shiv Sena (UBT) member Anil Parab supported the demand. “Doing that shall conclusively prove the innocence of Aditya Thackeray,” he said.

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