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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.

Thackeray cousins unite after 20 years

Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS to announce tie-up today

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Mumbai: In a significant development ending six months of speculation and weeks of negotiations, the Thackeray cousins - Uddhav and Raj - are all set to announce their first formal electoral alliance on Wednesday noon, ahead of the upcoming civic elections across Maharashtra.

 

The Shiv Sena (UBT), led by former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), headed by Raj Thackeray, are expected to formally declare a seat-sharing arrangement for key civic corporations in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) and elsewhere.

 

These include the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Thane, Mira-Bhayander, Navi Mumbai, Kalyan-Dombivli (all in MMR), plus Pune and Nashik.

 

“Tomorrow… 12 noon,” Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut posted a date with the media, sharing a photograph of the Thackeray cousins. Later, he later reiterated the same to media-persons.

 

Dismissing political guesswork, Raut said the seat-sharing talks between the two parties progressed smoothly and were finalised amicably over the past few days.

 

Among the 29 civic corporations slated to go to the polls next month, the BMC - India’s richest municipal body running the country’s financial capital - is the most coveted trophy.

 

The undivided Shiv Sena had controlled the BMC for 25 consecutive years, making it a key political prize, eyed by the Thackeray cousins and other major contenders.

 

At loggerheads for nearly two decades following a bitter political split, Uddhav and Raj were thrown together earlier this year for the common cause of ‘Marathi manoos’.

 

In July, the Maharashtra government issued two government resolutions (GRs) under the National Education Policy’s three-language formula, proposing Hindi as a compulsory third language in Marathi and English medium primary schools (Classes I to V).

 

A combined agitation led by the Thackeray cousins - with support from the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party(SP) and others - forced the state government to yank off the proposal.

 

However, the growing proximity between Uddhav and Raj caused discomfort within the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies.

 

The Congress, citing the MNS’ aggressive anti-migrant rhetoric, opposed its induction into the MVA. Failing to block the MNS, last month the Congress decided to go solo in the BMC elections, but kept the door open for tie-ups in other civic bodies.

 

Congress out, NCP (SP) mum

The state Congress has reiterated that it will contest the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections independently, while hammering out an alliance with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA).

 

“We have made it clear that the Congress will go alone in Mumbai, and that position remains unchanged,” said Maharashtra Congress senior spokesperson Sachin Sawant.

 

The Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (SP), however, has yet to spell out its stand on whether it will align with the Congress or side with the Thackeray cousins in the Mumbai civic polls.

 

Amid speculation over a possible rapprochement between the NCP (SP) and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP - reportedly to be formally announced this weekend – SS (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut launched a sharp attack on Ajit Pawar, questioning his status in the ruling MahaYuti alliance.

 

“Ajit Pawar’s real leaders are BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, Amit Shah and Narendra Modi. If he is contemplating an alliance with the NCP (SP), then he has no moral right to remain in the MahaYuti government,” Raut said.

 

He further warned that any understanding between the two NCP factions in Pune would have repercussions for opposition unity. “If the NCP (SP) and NCP come together in Pune, then we will not align with Sharad Pawar’s party there,” Raut asserted.


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