BMC Poll Result: Sunset of the Thackerays

The trump card in the arsenal of the Thackerays—the coming together of estranged cousins Uddhav and Raj—ultimately turned out to be a washout. If at all the use of language going back to the heyday of the Shiv Sena, 'hatao lungi, bajao pungi', did anything, then it was to alienate non-Marathi voters in the state, especially in cosmopolitan cities like Mumbai and Pune. And the gamble that the consolidation of the Marathi manoos would make up for it didn’t work.

It is not just that they have lost Mumbai, something that the original undivided Shiv Sena prided itself on and which Uddhav was desperate to retain, but his party, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), was decimated in every major municipal corporation he once had control over. The only saving grace for him is that among the opposition, he has performed the least badly, but that is no solace when accompanied by political irrelevance.  For Raj Thackeray and his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), it is even worse. It is now established that the MNS brings nothing to the table for any ally. Raj's oratory might still draw crowds, but they don’t translate to votes for even his own party.

Uddhav still has a party with organisation and reach, but the results considerably decrease his chances of making peace with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Without power, his party members have no reason to remain loyal. There is, after all, another party called Shiv Sena, which is part of the government and with the same ideology. What then does Uddhav have to offer? As long as the BMC was under his party's influence, funds could be raised using it, but being powerless in his last bastion means the money needed to fight elections would dry up.

The dilemma confronting the Thackerays now is with depleting organisations, depleting resources, and no core issue; they have no answer for a revival. The only route is to wait for the BJP to take them on as junior partners, but Eknath Shinde is already ensconced in that spot.