Maharashtra politics grabbed headlines yet again when both the rustic and populist wings of the Shiv Sena celebrated the party’s foundation day on separate occasions and there was a noticeable poster war in Mumbai with renewed hopes of perhaps at last seeing some dissension swirling from the Uddhav Thackeray ilk.
Both the posters and banners of the Shiv Sena under Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Shiv Sena (UBT), headed by Uddhav Thackeray, were very visible in such places as Kalanagar, Bandra and around the Matoshree area. Whether or not the victor of the 2009 dramatic split had won the first battle, there was a persistent battle raging between the two factions since the tragic division.In any case, the displays illustrated the ongoing battle that has surfaced after the 2009 eventful split in the party.
This year the festivities took political hue with the talk about “Operation Tiger”, a political term being used here to indicate that a number of individuals of the Shiv Sena (UBT) leadership and MPs might turn their allegiance to the Shinde “faction”.
The rumours got louder after Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Chandrakant Raghuvanshi, who was an MLC in the party, claimed that six fellow MPs of his were keen on joining him in his faction and supporting Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. But, no official statement in the claims has been released by MPs mentioned.
Shiv Sena split is one of the significant events in Maharashtra politique in the recent years. In 2022, Eknath Shinde staged a rebellion against the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray, which led to the split of party. Later legal and political wrangling ultimately gave the Election Commission ‘s approval to the Shinde camp (Shiv Sena), giving it the traditional ‘bow and arrow’ symbol, while the Thackeray camp was booked under the title Shiv Sena (UBT).
In a bid to build their political clout, day of the foundation events are being used to compete with one another for political ownership of the Shiv Sena inheritance.