One year of Uddhav: Internal challenges faced by his three-party government
Part three of a multi-part article about one year of Uddhav Thackeray's rule as CM.
Shiv Sena was originally allied with BJP. The two parties have similar ideologies which are very different from the ideologies of Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
Shiv Sena broke the alliance with BJP because it was not offered the post of Chief Minister. It had a post-poll alliance with NCP (which is led by Sharad Pawar) and Congress. The three parties came together so that they could form the government in spite of having ideological differences.
Surprisingly, they did not show any disagreements over ideology in public. There was one time when NCP and Congress wanted to pass a bill to provide 5% reservation for Muslims. Shiv Sena did not want to provide such reservation and eventually they did not do it. That was the only major time the government showed ideological clashes between the three parties.
Uddhav Thackeray with his party colleagues
However, there have been problems about sharing power. It is difficult enough to accommodate two parties to run a government, let alone three. Congress has around eleven seats fewer than the other two parties. It has been given disproportionately more cabinet berths, but its ministers just focus on their own ministries. Congress has no major say in the government and overall decisions are made by Shiv Sena and NCP.
There are problems between Shiv Sena and NCP as well. Shiv Sena is the largest party. Also, it is only because Shiv Sena broke ties with BJP that NCP and Congress were able to come to power. Had Shiv Sena stayed with BJP, it would have been impossible for the other two parties to have been in the government. So Shiv Sena thinks it needs to be respected.
However, there is no way Shiv Sena and Congress could have allied on their own. NCP in many ways, is the link between the two parties. Also, it is currently the only party among the three which has the option of allying with BJP. It is in some ways doing the others a favour by keeping the alliance going. So NCP feels it has the right to expand its base. It sometimes does this even at the cost of its allies. Shiv Sena tries to talk NCP out of doing such things.
For example, in early July, five Shiv Sena councilors from Parner, Ahmednagar resigned from the party. They defected to NCP even though the two were allied! Uddhav Thackeray met Ajit Pawar and they both agreed on 'no poaching rules'. The five councilors resigned from NCP and went back to Shiv Sena.
In an interview with Saamana, Uddhav Thackeray said, “It is a three-party government, but the steering wheel is in my hands.”
The next day was Uddhav Thackeray's birthday. Ajit Pawar wished him happy birthday and sent a picture of the two together.
Best wishes to the Hon. CM of Maharashtra, ShivSena Party President & Maha Vikas Aghadi Leader, Shri. Uddhav Thackeray ji. Wish you a healthy & long life!
The picture was of the two sitting in a car. One can distinctly see that Ajit Pawar is at the steering wheel!
Political parties try to change the 'political climate' as per their ideology. When they are running the government, their main focus is on changing the 'political climate.' However, the Maharashtra government is run by parties with different ideologies. In that case, it is impossible to change the 'political climate' as per ideologies. However, doing good work and efficient administration in the present 'political climate' is something easily acceptable irrespective of ideology. And one sees a lot of it in the Maharashtra government.
The election results had been in favour of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. However, Shiv Sena ended up ditching BJP and forming the Government with NCP and Congress.
