The history of breakaways has always remained there, especially with the Shiv Sena. Earlier, it was Anand Dhenge who did it first after he was side-lined later by Bal Thackery keeping in view his rising popularity. The same has been happening with Shinde, whose mentor was Dhenge, and this time, it was Uddhav Thackery doing the job of what senior Thackery did.
Shinde, while he is apparently in a process of becoming the king by following the footsteps of his mentor, Anand Dhenge, the control and authority that Dhenge was given by Bal Thackery initially has remained missing in the case of the Shinde as Uddhav ensured that he retained overall control of Shiv Sena across the state—placing Shinde at the last even if he was the second in line.
In the post-election-2019 story, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) turned out to be the largest in terms of seats and was looking to form the Government in the state which is known as the financial capital of the country. However, the party, despite securing over 100 seats, had to sit in the opposition while other parties, Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Congress came together to form a three-party coalition.
While being in the Government, Shinde remained side-lined there as well as in the party, prompting him to go his mentor’s way, and while Uddhav Thackery who was chosen as the Chief Minister by the alliance partners and did not toe the BJP’s line as already, giving rise to a void and a chance, which Shinde has been observing to play his card.
The ongoing political somersaults in Maharashtra also point to the BJP’s intent of not letting any alliance of opposition hold power anywhere, and by bulldozing it all in Maharashtra—even though it has been distancing itself from the turn of events there—BJP has somehow tried to play its card which it always uses to topple the Governments, not in line with it.
Shinde, breaking away from Shiv Sena, and eyeing BJP, might have made commitments, but, as the rebels continue to remain in Guwahati, several rebel MLAs have been sent the disqualification notice and the same might change the entire game for Shinde because the rest of the MLAs with him might see their sense of loyalty towards Shiv Sena coming back to life, and desert Shinde. If that happens, Shinde might end up alone in the middle of nowhere.
