In giving Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray a new lease of life in the CM's office by way of asking the Election Commission of India (ECI) to hold legislative council polls, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has kept the battle between the state government and governor raging. A timely request made to Prime Minister Narendra Modi has helped the CM survive a chair scare, and his party has profusely thanked the Centre for facilitating the legislative council's biennial elections. However, the Sena and its Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) partners have been forced to accept that the Raj Bhavan holds the ultimate right to reject the Cabinet's recommendation, that the CM be made a legislator under the governor's quota, in the circumstances he (the governor) found fit for refusal. The BJP has also averted a situation wherein it could have been blamed by the people for playing 'brutal' politics by collapsing the government in the time of a grave health crisis.

A game fixed?
The events that finally led to the CM's relief seemed to be orchestrated delicately. Actually, the Sena offered it on a platter to the BJP which created a pressure cooker-like situation, in which the rival teams ended up doing the unexpected. The verdict in this game is varied. For some, the Sena has won. For some, the BJP is the victor because it hurt Sena's pride. But people in the know say the game was fixed at the last moment to appear like a tie, and insist that the next rounds of the game will be rather interesting. The Raj Bhavan should be elated because it was converted into an execution hub with its control strings being manoeuvred in New Delhi, which also honoured Bhagat Singh Koshyari's consistent say. The state BJP leaders who are alleged to be hand-in-glove with the Raj Bhavan may also have a reason to feel somewhat contented because they were able to get even with the Sena, if not successful in completely decimating a friend-turned-foe.