Maharashtra: Is it the end for the Sena

Nov 1. I am writing this post barely after two weeks when the Congress led Democratic Front won the Maharashtra Assembly Elections again,thus retaining Mantralaya for the third consecutive time. The Congress improved upon its tally of 69 in 2004 to 82 in this poll and gaining a golden opportunity to dictate over its coalition partner , the NCP. NCP lost 9 seats and bagged 62 seats as compared to 71 in the previous polls.

But the main loser was the Shiv Sena, the self proclaimed champion of the"marathi manoos" in the state.by its chief, Balasaheb Thackeray. Thackeray, who had played the bhumiputra or "sons of soil " card for four decades, was left clueless as he saw his rebel nephew Raj Thackeray's Maharashra Navnirman Sena playing spoilsport in the former's chances of returning to power again.The Sena lost 18 seats and its tally went down to 44 ,whereas its partner BJP lost 08 and bagged 46. Raj Thackeray's MNS bagged 13 seats , but should be credited for eating up a large chunk of Marathi votes from the Shiv Sena-BJP share.

Now talking about Sena's misery , the senior Thackeray must have underestimated Raj's ever increasing popularity among the Marathi voters. On the other hand,Raj fielded Marathi candidates in every constituency where Sena had fielded theirs. This ultimately led to the defeat of many Sena candidates resulting in the gains of both the Congress and the NCP.Thackeray's strategy of projecting his son Uddhav as the next chief minister failed miserably as the voters could not connect themselves with the heir to the throne of Maharashtra's biggest party.Unlike Raj,who has gained immense popularity among the voters which has led to the speculations that he will surely supercede his cousin and become an efficient player in the politics of the state.

Now talking about Raj, the rebellious nephew left no stone unturned to make his grand old uncle realize his mistake which the former committed 2 yrs ago which had led Raj to quit the Sena and form his MNS. The Shiv Sena lost plot miserably as it failed to make use of the opportunity to weaken Raj during his tirade against the North Indians.Instead the Sena made a half hearted attempt to garner Marathi votes by launching offensive against North Indians in its newsletter Saamna. As a result, it not only lost the Marathi votebank but also the North Indian voters who voted for the Congress to evict the Sena.

Before the 2004 elections, Bal tackeray had declared that he won't shave his beard unless Sena-BJP is voted back to power.Now after the 2009 debacle, it seems that the old tiger will have to remain another 5 years unshaven.