Maharashtra: A Season of Discontent

“Those who are anti-Maharashtra are anti-nationals. We cannot honour such persons…” Aaditya Thackeray, the scion of the Uddhav Thackeray faction of the Shiv Sena, looked visibly displeased as he said these words. He had been on a visit to Delhi, and had just been asked for comments by journalists on Sharad Pawar’s recent felicitation of Eknath Shinde (with the Mahadji Shinde Rashtra Gaurav Award) and the rich praise the senior leader had heaped on the deputy chief minister and head of the Shinde faction of the Sena. “This goes against our principles. I won’t say anything about his (Sharad Pawar’s) principles,” Aaditya said. Although he added he was too junior to pass comments on Pawar, it was a stark enough comment coming from him.

Aaditya had met Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Aam Admi Party chief Arvind Kejriwal during his visit to Delhi, but that day, although he was scheduled to meet Pawar, according to reports, he skipped that meeting.

It was just one more discordant note in a season of discordant notes in Maharashtra’s politics. The Mahayuti alliance’s landslide win, and in particular BJP’s huge victory margin, has spread discontent across the political landscape both within the Opposition and ruling camps.

The discontent and competition within the ruling alliance has come into particular visibility over the last week. Shinde, who has kept away from many government meetings chaired by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis – including review meetings of several metropolitan region development authorities, although these authorities fall under Shinde’s Urban Development Department – recently skipped another, that of the Nashik Metropoliton Region Development Authority chaired by Fadnavis over 2027’s Kumbh Mela in Nashik. Shinde however held another review meeting over the same subject two days later.

Shinde has been skipping meetings, it is believed, to express his displeasure over his party leaders not getting the Nashik and Raigad guardian minister’s posts. Other decisions – such as an IAS officer being appointed Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation’ chairman, bypassing Shiv Sena minister Pratap Sarnaik, and also Shinde not being initially named part of the State Disaster Management Authority, even though his counterpart Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar was (Shinde was included in the list a few days later) – appears to have rubbed the Shinde faction of the Sena the wrong way.

There have also been murmurs of too much centralisation of power, a reference towards how Fadnavis likes to exert control and oversight over all parts of the government machinery. Some of these are just murmurs at the moment – such as few Shinde Sena ministers being reportedly unhappy over their picks for personal assistants and Officers on Special Duty not being cleared yet (the names are apparently being vetted by the chief minister’s office). Others have emerged in the public forum. The Sena leader and Industries Minister Uday Samant for instance, it recently emerged, has shot off a letter to the principal secretary of the State Industries Department and the chief executive officer of the Maharashtra Industrial Development Corporation (MIDC), conveying his displeasure over how important policy decisions related to the MIDC and the industries department were being taken without consulting him.

There is unsurprising a sense of competition within the alliance now, and this has interestingly led to the creation of three different bodies, each headed by a different alliance partner, keeping track over infrastructure projects. Fadnavis was the first off the blocks, creating a ‘war room’ in Mantralaya to monitor all ongoing infrastructure projects across departments. This is something Fadnavis had done in his previous tenure too, and won him much praise for creating more efficiency and speed. Shinde is now said to be setting up his own such department – although he calls it a coordination centre – to monitor the implementation of ongoing infrastructure, housing and planning projects, many of which would also fall into the purview of Fadnavis’ war room. Then there is Ajit Pawar’s project monitoring unit that track projects that fall under his guardian ministership and those within departments handled by him and his party leaders.

While many have viewed the recent bonhomie between Pawar and Shinde over the latter’s felicitation as evidence of Pawar exploring his options outside the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance, quite a few have wondered if this was also Shinde sending a subtle message to Fadnavis. The chief minister, many believe, may have been indulging in some message sending of his own, when he drove the previous day to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray’s residence for what he described as ‘friendly’ and ‘personal’ meeting.

The elections to various municipal corporations, in particular that of Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is expected to take place sometime this year. It is a crucial election for all parties in the fray, but is particularly so for the two factions of the Shiv Sena, since the undivided Sena has always had a strong grip over the corporation.

Most parties have indicated they will contest the elections on their own. But this is still early days. Expect some more manoeuvres and political signaling before the final day.

Aaditya ThackerayBMC elections 2025Devendra FadnavisEknath ShindeMumbaiSharad PawarUddhav ThackerayWeb Exclusive