Sena factional feud

ALMOST a year after the Election Commission of India granted the party name ‘Shiv Sena’ and party symbol (bow and arrow) to the faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar has declared that this faction is the ‘real Shiv Sena’, not the one helmed by former CM Uddhav Thackeray. The Speaker took the decision after examining the two Sena factions’ cross-petitions seeking disqualification of each other’s MLAs following a split in the party. A coup engineered by Shinde in June 2022 had cleaved the party that Bal Thackeray had founded back in 1966. With the majority of the Sena MLAs backing Shinde, then CM Uddhav had preferred to quit rather than face a floor test. This had caused the collapse of the Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, which had the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress as junior partners.

The Speaker’s verdict has strengthened Shinde’s position in the election year — Maharashtra will witness both Lok Sabha and Assembly polls in 2024. It is back to the drawing board for the beleaguered Uddhav, who faces the uphill task of making his faction — the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray or UBT) — electorally competitive. The fresh setback may also impact his outfit’s seat-sharing arrangement with the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP faction.

As of now, the battle over Balasaheb’s legacy has been won by Shinde, who is backed by the BJP and the NCP (Ajit Pawar group). However, the split and its unsavoury aftermath have not only undermined the sanctity of the electoral mandate but also brought into question the efficacy of the anti-defection law. The alarming ease with which MLAs are able to jump ship and yet escape disqualification makes it obvious that the law needs to be overhauled. The loopholes which opportunistic politicians continue to exploit brazenly must be plugged.