Opposition's Maharashtra Chief Minister Face? Uddhav Thackeray Replies

The Opposition alliance of Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) will reveal its Chief Minister choice for Maharashtra in due course, but the ruling coalition led by the BJP must show the "face of failure" first, former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said today.

In an interaction with the media, Mr Thackeray was asked if the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) had reached an agreement on a Chief Minister candidate for Maharashtra, where Assembly polls are due this year.

The state polls are likely to be a tight contest after the MVA trumped the ruling alliance of BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde) and NCP (Ajit Pawar) in this general election. Out of the 48 Lok Sabha seats, the MVA won 30 and the NDA bloc 17.

The Monsoon Session of Maharashtra Assembly started today and top leaders of the government and Opposition were at the House. Former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and the BJP's Devendra Fadnavis, now Deputy Chief Minister, shared an awkward moment while they were waiting for the lift at the Assembly building. A video that has now circulated on social media shows the two leaders exchanging words as they wait for the lift.

Another light-hearted interaction, pictures of which have emerged, was between BJP minister Chandrakant Patil and Mr Thackeray. When the BJP leader gave a bar of chocolate to Mr Thackeray, he replied, "Tomorrow you will give chocolate to the people of Maharashtra." The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader was clearly referring to the state budget that is likely to offer sops to woo voters ahead of the election.

In his chat with the media, Mr Thackeray targeted the central government over the huge issue surrounding irregularities in the National Eligibility cum Entrance Test for medical education aspirants. He also referred to reports of rainwater leaking into the sanctum sanctorum of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya -- these reports have been trashed by the temple committee.

"This is a leakage government in Delhi and here. It happened in Ayodhya and here too," he said in a swipe at the Maharashtra and central governments over paper leaks.

Countering Mr Fadnavis' charge that question papers of more competitive exams leaked during Mr Thackeray's tenure, he replied,

"This is one of their fake narratives. Most of our exams happened during Covid-19, most exams were online, whenever issues happened we re-conducted exams," he said.

The upcoming Maharashtra election is extremely significant against the backdrop of the splits in two key political forces in the state over the past two years. In the last state election in 2019, the BJP and the undivided Shiv Sena fought in alliance and secured a majority. But the allies fell through over rotational chiefministership and Mr Thackeray tied up with the Congress and Sharad Pawar's NCP to form the government.

In 2022, however, the Uddhav Thackeray government was topped after his trusted lieutenant Eknath Shinde led a mutiny that split the Shiv Sena. Mr Shinde tied up with the BJP to form the next government. Subsequently, NCP leader Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar, leading to a split in NCP. Ajit Pawar, too, joined the state government.