Going by the trend of Maharashtra election results, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led alliance is on course for a big victory. Mahayuti leads with 221 seats in the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly, surpassing the three-fourth majority of 216. Congress-led Mahavikas Aghadi (MVA) candidates lead with 56 seats. Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena (UBT) leads with 19 seats and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) leads with 14 seats. After the latest trends, most of the conversation revolves around the future of Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar and the parties led by them.
Both parties push back from their own factions.
Parties led by Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar are seen lagging behind even the branches or factions emerging from their own party in these assembly elections, which are seen as a battle between the real and the fake. In the latest trends, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena is leading with 56 seats, while Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) is leading with 38 seats. If these trends translate into results, then in the real partisan fight, Shinde and Ajit Pawar seem to be eclipsing Uddhav and Sharad Pawar.
The entire MVA leads with 53 seats, which is not even equal to Shinde’s party. Talking about Ajit, the NCP (AP), which was a laggard in the Lok Sabha elections, this time seems to eclipse only the duo of Sharad and Uddhav. The PCN (AP) leads with 38 seats at the time of writing the news. This is more than the 33-seat lead between Sharad Pawar and Uddhav’s parties combined.
What will Uddhav-Sharad do after losing the real battle?
Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar had already lost the battle to capture their parties’ name and brand in the Election Commission. Both leaders were hopeful that the verdict of the people’s court would be in their favor. The Lok Sabha election results sparked this hope, but the momentum completely changed in the assembly elections. In such a situation, now the question is what will Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar do after losing the battle between real and fake in the open court?
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Will both sides come together to be safe?
During the Maharashtra elections, a slogan of Prime Minister Narendra Modi remained at the center of the discussion: “Ek hain toh safe hain”. Political experts are now predicting the political future of both the leaders and their parties around this motto. Even together, the parties of Sharad Pawar and Uddhav do not seem to be able to win as many seats as those led by Shinde’s Shiv Sena. In such a situation, it will not be easy for Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar to revive their respective parties with a numerical strength of around 20 members after being in the opposition for five years.
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Now three options are presented to these two leaders. The first option is for both leaders to merge their parties. Sharad Pawar also advocates merger of small parties. However, it will be a tough decision for Uddhav Thackeray. The second option is that both parties should join their breakaway factions and merge. However, considering the ego battle between Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde, it doesn’t look like this is going to happen. But one fact is that whether friendship or enmity is permanent in politics, it is not. The third path is that of Ekala Chalo, which both parties are currently advancing.
