After Maharashtra Poll Debacle, What Lies In Future For Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar?

Maha Vikas Aaghadi (MVA) leader and Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray addresses a joint press conference on the release of booklet 'gaddarancha panchnama', in Mumbai on Sunday. NCP-SCP chief Sharad Pawar also seen. (ANI Photo)

Maharashtra Assembly Polls: The thumping victory for the Bharatiya Janata-led Mahayuti alliance has certainly given some serious dents to the future prospects of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP (Sharad Pawar)). 

The Maharashtra polls held this year were undoubtedly crucial, as it was for the first time two major parties in the state, the NCP and Shiv Sena, entered the poll battle following a split. The Assembly elections were also pivotal, as these polls cleared the air on many questions that were creating a buzz in the political circles of Maharashtra. 

As these polls saw the Congress-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) reeling, they also left a bunch of questions surrounding the future of Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. MVA comprises Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress, and NCP (SP).

As far as the Shiv Sena vs. Shiv Sena battle is concerned, the people of Maharashtra have given their verdict about “who is the real Shiv Sena?". 

The MVA's defeat in Maharashtra is likely to lie the heaviest on the shoulders of former CM Uddhav Thackeray, who, in a span of three years, not only lost power in the state but also his party. 

Today’s defeat at the hands of Mahayuti made matters even worse for Uddhav, who apparently lost the legacy of his father, Balasaheb Thackeray.

The Shinde-led faction slammed Thackeray and accused him of trading in his father's principles for power and pitched the electoral battle as a test of "Who is the real Shiv Sena?" but has lost no time to announce it as an ideological victory.

Thackeray, whose Shiv Sena won a mere 20 out of the 95 seats it contested, admitted that he was unable to understand how the electorate, which had inflicted a drubbing on the ruling alliance in the Lok Sabha elections only five months ago, changed its mind.

In the Lok Sabha polls, the opposition camp bagged 30 out of 48 seats, giving an exceptional performance. With so much to think about and assess, Uddhav Thackeray’s significance in the politics of Maharashtra will remain a talking point in the near future. 

Big Setback For Sharad Pawar

Sharad Pawar, who led the NCP faction to a massive victory in the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra; however, five months later, the 83-year-old suffered one of the worst setbacks in his five-decade-long political career on Saturday.

The rout of the Sharad Pawar-led faction has raised questions over his political future, with a potential risk of a further slide in the party flock in the future. Similar to the story with the Shiv Sena, Deputy CM Ajit Pawar, who led a split in the NCP in July 2023, has emerged as the true inheritor of his uncle's political legacy. NCP.

In contrast, the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP) won just four seats and led in six others with the latest trends. The Ajit-led NCP had contested 59 seats and the NCP (SP) 86 out of the 288 constituencies. Ajit Pawar’s faction bagged 41 out of 59 seats, while Sharad Pawar's camp won 12 out of

The defeat is specifically personal for Sharad Pawar, as his grandnephew Yugendra Pawar is trailing by 99,000 votes from home turf, Baramati, against Ajit Pawar, the sitting MLA. Five months back, Sharad Pawar's daughter and Baramati MP Supriya Sule had comfortably overcome the challenge posed by Ajit's wife Sunetra in Lok Sabha polls and retained the seat.

In his 57-year-long political career, Sharad Pawar has represented Baramati in the assembly as well as in the Lok Sabha, and currently he is a member of the Rajya Sabha. Before the assembly elections, he had indicated that he would bid farewell to his parliamentary career after his current term ends next year. The NCP (SP)'s poor performance in the assembly polls stands in contrast to the Lok Sabha elections, when it had won eight out of 10 seats contested.

Sharad Pawar had not been complacent following the Lok Sabha elections. He toured the state extensively and inducted BJP leaders, including Samarjit Ghatge and Harshvardhan Patil.

The latest assembly elections followed a split in the party in 2023, with nephew Ajit Pawar walking away to join the ruling coalition. It seems the senior Pawar's appeal to voters to defeat "all the traitors" by decisive margins did not elicit much response.

Following the split, Ajit Pawar and senior NCP leader Praful Patel showed no signs of regrets and claimed that they committed no treachery, as Sharad Pawar himself had wanted to join the BJP-led alliance but backed out at the last moment. To this, Sharad Pawar never issued any clarification.

With the INDIA bloc’s good show at the general elections, which saw it achieve success in cutting down the saffron party’s tally in the Lower House, it was expected that Pawar would be able to replicate the results and even dislodge the BJP from power in the state. Following the Maharashtra polls, one thing is confirmed: veteran NCP leader Sharad Pawar has a lot of assessment to do and a lot of ground to cover.

(With PTI Inputs)