Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Understanding Sena (UBT)'s power play & its impact on Maharashtra's political landscape

The electoral arena across India is heating up as the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are days away from commencing The upcoming polls as it is evident is going to be between two major alliancesthe National Democratic Alliance NDA led by the BJP and the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance aka INDIA blocThis polarisation is equally visible in the electoral landscape of Maharashtra as Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi prepare to take on each other Additionally other parties like Raj Thackerays Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Prakash Ambedkars Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi are also hitting the headlines as the election fervour continues to riseMaha Vikas Aghadi which once boasted of powerful leaders are now formed with fractured political parties after the two vertical splits the state witnessed in 2022 and 2023 Part of the MVA constituent is Shiv Sena UBT Nationalist Congress Party Sharad Pawar and CongressWith the leaders airing their grievances in the media amidst seatsharing talks ahead of Lok Sabha Elections 2024 the fissures between the coalition of once ideological foes surfaced However what nearly drove a wedge as per reports was Shiv Sena UBTs March 27 announcement of 17 candidates They had announced candidates for seats like Sangli and those in Mumbai which as some Congress leaders claimed were under discussion Many from Congress had termed the Sena UBTs decision as being a unilateralrdquo one and jabs were certainly tradedWhen asked about the ramifications of this move by Shiv Sena UBT ahead of the Lok Sabha Elections 2024 political analyst Abhay Deshpande says that in an alliance need takes a crucial place Elaborating further he said In an alliance need presides over power and in todays date Congress needs people more The grand old party has more stake in Lok Sabha which is why they had to compromise at multiple places including in MaharashtraDeshpande pointed out that although the Sena UBT and NCP SP are fractions Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar in cohort have taken strategically shared seats that were once contested by undivided Shiv Sena and BJP and then also took seats like Sangli and MumbaiThe Congress does not have the confidence to either break from the alliance and contest Lok Sabha Elections 2024 by themselves they can only create hue and cry Shiv Sena UBT is aware of this fact and thus took an aggressive position and it benefitted them the political analyst saidThe panMaharashtra appeal that Uddhav Thackeray or Sharad Pawar yield Nana Patole or Balasaheb Thorat do not have the same Since Ashok Chavans departure theres not been a leader that appeals to the public like Thackeray or Pawar do Playing up on these factors including quiet support by Sharad Pawar Sena UBT could not take a firm stand and benefit from it he saidSpeaking about the longterm ramifications of Sena UBTs methodology Deshpande said that its ramifications will be seen in the subsequent state assembly electionHe said Sena UBT have 15 MLAs but are contesting around 22 seats Lok Sabha Elections 2024 are crucial and with its firm strategy of aggressive campaigning contesting from more seats statewide leadership Sena UBT has an edge he said adding that the party will likely be staking claim over more constituencies even during the state assembly electionsIn the upcoming state assembly elections Sena UBT and Sharad Pawar will be dominating the space Uddhav Thackeray is filling the vacuum of opposition he is taking maximum space in opposition and so is Sharad Pawar he saidResponding to a query about the opportunities and challenges for Sena UBT given the aggressive stance they have been taking Deshpande elucidated that Shiv Sena after 2014 had realised that the Hindutva politics space has been completely occupied by the Bharatiya Janata Party and it slowly shifted to the other side which on the spectrum could be a rightcentre or offleft centreldquoShiv Sena then undivided and todayrsquos UBT faction has aligned itself with an antiBJP stance and former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has become the face of antiBJP politics in Maharashtra Thackeray is leading the antiBJP forces in the state presently and he also is leading the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance This has provided them with ample space to flip the narrativerdquo he pointed outDeshpande said that Sena had come a long way from what Balasahebrsquos party was At first it was a hardcore Hindutva party He said it began with Sena being a regional party which tapped into sentiments of lsquoMarathi Manoosrsquo later moved on to become a Hindutva party before Uddhav was given the reignsldquoThackeray shifted the partyrsquos base into secular antiBJP space which was an opportunity and they have occupied maximum space Also the Sena UBT has also kept the BJP door open they may even come together laterrdquo he remarkedWhen asked whether the recent happenings have any effect on voter sentiments Abhay remarked that it will not affect public sentiment majorlyRegional sentiments were focused upon in Shiv Sena UBT and the party he said and added that the party is still harping on the sentiment however instead of using Marathi words they are targetting the incumbent saying it is working for Gujarat rather than Maharashtra They just donrsquot use the word Marathi anymoreHe added that although the party may have lost the hardcore Hindutva voters it has gained a new voter base by shifting towards a rather secular ideology He remarked that those who once kept away from the party are now coming in support of Sena UBTPolitico SpeakWhen asked about the lsquounilateral decisionrsquo allegation by the MVA partner after the announcement of candidates Sena UBT leader Priyanka Chaturvedi said that the candidates were declared after deliberations and were not a ldquounilateralrdquo decisionldquoHow can it be unilateral when the decision was made after discussionsrdquo she questioned then said that they were being told not to contest in western Maharashtra ldquoHow can we not contest from there And the candidate who is cribbing has lost from Mumbai north constituencyrdquo Chaturvedi said She further stated that every party while working within an alliance will also look towards safeguarding its interests as well as the larger goals of the allianceResponding to a query about how Sena UBT perceives its role in shaping the political narrative and dynamics in Maharashtra she said that former CM Uddhav Thackeray and the party envision making India one of the largest economies and that Maharashtra should be the biggest contributor to itShe said the party has an ideal of governing without appeasement bringing progressive policies that the state of Maharashtra deserves and has done so during the tenure of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government led by ThackerayldquoPolitically we are clear the Constitution was undermined and so were democratic values The Honrsquoble Supreme Court agreed with us and had stated in their ruling that they would have constituted Uddhav Thackeray as CM had he not resignedrdquo she saidThe Sena leader added that Thackeray had taken a moral high ground and resignedldquoFrom taking oath as a CM and later resigning the credibility of Uddhav Thackeray has increased Politically he is popular and has been singlehandedly fighting forces that are working against Maharashtra and built hateful narrativesrdquo Chaturvedi said and added that despite investigating agencies going after their leaders the party is continuing to fight She said the party will leverage it for electoral gainsOur stance is that we were cheated thrown out of power to a point the Election Commission of India went against set norms she addedWhen asked about how Sena UBT aims to address the concerns and aspirations of various sections of society given the diverse sociopolitical landscape of Maharashtra she said that Prabhodhankar Thackeray first called for citizens of Maharashtra unite as Maharashtrians and Balasaheb took it forward She further added Uddhav too believes in social justice and reforms and that if elected their government will for parity and inclusiveness ldquoas opposed to how caste or religious identities were polarised in the stateIdentities start playing a larger role when you have limited employment opportunities and it works against the state We will pull those left behind at par with the relatively accomplished if we are elected she noted and said Maharashtra needs a healing touch