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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.

Rattled, Thackeray says ‘do not rely on lies’

Updated: Mar 21

Thackeray

Mumbai: Shaken by the sudden spotlight on the Disha S. Salian death case, Shiv Sena (UBT) President and ex-CM Uddhav Thackeray and his son Aditya Thackeray appeared at a loss for words to react to the development, but said ‘lies’ should not be relied upon.


In a relief of sorts, a ruling ally Shiv Sena MLA came out in open support of the beleaguered Thackerays and the ex-CM expressed his gratitude.


The five-year-old incident concerning the unexplained death of Bollywood celeb manager Disha rocked the Maharashtra Legislature afresh with the ruling MahaYuti and Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi allies hurling accusations at each other.


“There is no substance in these allegations… The matter is in the court…let them say it there,” dared Thackeray, who served as the MVA CM from November 2019-June 2022 when the case had blown up.


“I am confident that the case would boomerang on them in the court,” Thackeray declared dismissively, with Aditya beside him.


Thackeray wondered “why the issue keeps cropping up only during the Legislature sessions”, and said there is nothing new in this.


“Every time the Legislature comes into session, this matter is raised… Why did it not come in the past couple of sessions… I am surprised. It keeps coming up but there is nothing new to it. Whatever Satish Salian’s lawyer claims, he should say it in the court,” said Thackeray sharply.


“Many generations of our family are in front of the public. We have no connection with this case at all. But if politics is being twisted and taken in the wrong direction, everyone will suffer. When you rely on lies, it will also backfire on you,” warned Thackeray.


During a brief interaction with the media earlier in the day, Aditya Thackeray said that “since the matter has gone to the court, I shall also submit whatever I have to say before the court”.


“For the past five years they have been trying to defame me. But they were exposed on all counts… Now, the matter has gone in the court… I will respond there,” said Aaditya, a former minister in the MVA regime.


“It is clear… The Aurangzeb issue has backfired on them… To come out of it, the Disha Salian issue has been raked up now… There is some kind of ‘power’ working behind the petitioner,” contended SS (UBT) Chief Spokesperson and MP Sanjay Raut.


Training guns on the Mahayuti government, Thackeray said that who is responsible for the farmers’ pyres burning continuously (suicides), and their families, women, daughters and sisters are suffering.


There have been many killings like that of Beed Sarpanch Santosh Deshmukh, his children are also demanding justice, asking: “What is the government doing to stop all this?”


Against the badgering from the Bharatiya Janata Party leaders, a ruling Shiv Sena MLA Sanjay Gaikwad threw his weight behind the Thackeray father-son duo and Uddhav even thanked him publicly for the gesture.


Sparking a sensation, Satish Salian has filed a plea in the Bombay High Court on Monday, seeking a fresh CBI probe into the death of his daughter, Disha, 28, who died under mystery circumstances in Malad on June 8, 2020.


Five days later, on June 14, one of her celeb clients, Sushant Singh Rajput was found hanging at his Bandra rented home.


Salians were initially ‘satisfied’ with cops

It may be recalled that a few years ago, the Salian couple had said that they were satisfied with the police and other agencies’ probe plus pleaded publicly that the media and politicians should stop hounding or defaming their family. In March 2022, Satish and his wife Vasanti had written to the President of India, complaining that the (then) Union Minister Narayan Rane and his son Nitesh Rane (now, Maharashtra Minister), are ‘liars and virtually driving them (the Salians) to suicide”.


Drawing parallels with the Nirbhaya rape-cum-murder case of Delhi over a decade ago, the Salians pointed out that till now, that victim’s identity has not been revealed, but “Rane is blatantly taking my daughter’s name” repeatedly and saying that she was raped. Displaying signs of desperation, the Salians asked “whether the law of the land is not applicable to the Union Minister”, and pointed out how even after registering a (police) complaint against them, the “liars” Rane duo did not stop maligning the family’s name.


The Salians had made the same appeal to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, (then) Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray, BJP’s (then) Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis and Bombay High Court Chief Justice, “to stop a few politicians from maligning our daughter’s name”.

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