Has Congress missed the Uddhav trick?

“Let the Mahayuti announce first, then we will let you all know who our Chief Ministerial face is,” Shiv Sena-UBT chief and former CM Uddhav Thackeray said during a joint press conference of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). That is the irony of coalition politics as it comes from Uddhav Thackeray, one of the best bets of the MVA. However, as the BJP-Shiv Sena Mahayuti seems decided on the CM face, the opposition MVA is marred by indecisiveness, something that could come to hurt it.
There is agreement in the MVA to not agree on a Chief ministerial face, and the opposition bloc is speaking in one voice about it.
“Whatever Uddhav Thackeray said about CM’s face was quite clear and that is it,” said the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) chief, and himself a former CM, sitting beside Uddhav, backed him up.
With just a month to go before the critical Maharashtra Vidhan Sabha election, as alliances are racing to finalise seat-sharing agreements, it’s a surprise that the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi has not revealed their Chief Ministerial candidates.
While the BJP hinted that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde was likely to be Mahayuti’s CM face, the opposing MVA is seen dithering at making the big announcement. In doing so, the Congress might be missing the trick, the Uddhav trick.
The Congress is the leader of the pack, going by its performance in the last Maharashtra Assembly election and the 2024 Lok Sabha election. It won 13 out of the 17 seats it contested. While its partner, Shiv Sena-UBT just managed 9 out of 21 seats it fought in.
The Congress tried to assert its privilege of naming the chief minister. However, it lost some of its negotiating muscle after the big setback in the Haryana Assembly polls. That was evident in how the Congress was slammed for its “overconfidence” and underestimating regional partners by its INDIA bloc partners.
The Congress has repeatedly postponed announcing its Chief Ministerial candidate in Maharashtra, preferring to wait until after the poll results. It is likely that it believes that it would emerge as the biggest party in the MVA and stake claim to the CM’s chair.
However, by coming in the way of not naming a CM face for the MVA, the Congress is somehow denting the show of unity in the bloc. It is confusing the voters about the resolve to take on the Mahayuti.
An easy choice could have been Uddhav Thackeray of Shiv Sena (UBT). He has been a chief minister and is a relatively accepted face in Maharashtra. The Maharashtra government under Uddhav Thackeray was lauded for its response during the Covid pandemic. Then there is the sympathy factor of the party formed by his father being snatched from him.
It’s not just the Congress, even the NCP led by Sharad Pawar is mum on the CM choice.
“We are not projecting anyone (as the CM face),” 83-year-old Sharad Pawar said on Sunday (October 13).
While Pawar’s reluctance in naming Uddhav might stem from the NCP’s smaller share in the MVA, the Congress clearly views itself as the senior partner in the alliance which ruled Maharashtra under Uddhav Thackeray from November 2019 to June 2022.
“I’ve claimed that the largest party should get this privilege, and I think the Congress party will be the largest party,” Prithviraj Chavan said at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai in September. Chavan is a senior Maharashtra Congress leader and a former Chief Minister.
Chavan repatriated the Congress’s stand again on Tuesday (October 15). “The Congress has never projected a CM face when we are fighting in the opposition,” Chavan told India Today TV on Tuesday.
Chavan, the last Maharashtra CM from Congress repeated, “the largest party gets to nominate the CM”.
Given the number of seats that would be instrumental in the nomination the MVA CM faces, the number of seats the Shiv Sena-UBT and the Congress contest and win becomes crucial.
However, one may wonder if the MVA wins and the Congress again emerges as the largest party and who among the Grand Old Party could be the potential CM face.
Although Congress ruled the state between 1999 and 2014, options might be scarce. Congress’s former CM Vilasrao Deshmukh is no more. Sushilkumar Shinde, 83, visibly passed on the baton to his daughter Praniti Shinde after the 2019 Lok Sabha defeat.
For Prithviraj Chavan, who is a bit active in the election campaigns, state Congress President Nana Patole and the party’s Assembly leader, Balasaheb Thorat could pose a challenge.
In September, there had been some rumblings about naming Patole as the MVA CM face. The Nagpur City Congress Unit and its leader Vikas Thakre proposed his name for the topjob. He is credited with reviving the Congress in the Vidarbha region.
However, Patole on Sunday, sharing the stage with Uddhav and Sharad Pawar, has played down his claim for a CM.
Looking at the MVA leaders who can be projected as Chief Ministers, Uddhav Thackeray seems to be the best bet.
Experts opine that projecting Uddhav as the CM candidate would help MVA win, not lose, more seats.
That Uddhav has an overall acceptance can be gauged from the fact that he has managed to get seats through the Shiv Sena (UBT) despite the official party tag being given to the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.
Then there is the sympathy factor to do with the split in the Shiv Sena founded by Uddhav’s father, Balasaheb Thackeray.
Announcing a CM face would have given the Opposition bloc an edge.
The Congress may have missed the Uddhav trick by hesitating to back him as the MVA’s CM face. Its reluctance likely stems from its focus on asserting its position as the senior partner, with the aim of claiming the CM’s chair based on electoral numbers rather than Uddhav’s leadership legacy.