Opinion Splitsvilla,Mantralaya style

It is not unusual to find politicians hobnobbing with one another across the political spectrum and,at times,it is nothing more than posturing to send a message to an ally. But sometimes,it prompts a party to over-react. Like the Shiv Sena’s tantrums after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray visited the state BJP headquarters on December 20,and had tea with the state BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar and a few others.Raj was at the Life Insurance Corporation’s office at Nariman Point in South Mumbai for a meeting of the Janadhikar Sena,an MNS outfit modelled on the Sena’s Sthaniya Lokadhikar Samiti,which runs unions in public sector undertakings and insists on jobs for sons of the soil. After his engagement,he went across the road to visit the BJP office,where he had tea.The incident raised eyebrows in political circles and some went overboard,speculating about a change in political alignments in the state. The Sena over-reacted and started casting aspersions on the BJP,its ally for over two decades. The Sena chief Bal Thackeray,executive president Uddhav Thackeray,their spokesperson Neelam Gorhe and the party newspaper Saamna tore,full throttle,into the BJP for entertaining their bete noire Raj. Saamna even reminded Mungantiwar that he had called Raj a test-tube baby of Sharad Pawar on September 26,2010. It also remarked that “a person smoking a cigarette at a petrol pump can’t get away by saying that he did not cause a fire” and that “we have never done this — wearing the mangalsutra of one and kissing someone else.”The Sena has continued to vent its ire at the BJP and even threatened to boycott the NDA rally against corruption,despite the fact that NCP chief Sharad Pawar has visited Thackeray and dined with him at the latter’s residence and the Sena has justified it as friendship beyond politics. The Sena’s tantrums and the BJP’s posturing have come at a time when all is not well with the saffron alliance. During a recent election,for a member to represent Jalgaon local bodies in the legislative council,the official BJP nominee Nikhil Khadse — the son of Eknath Khadse,the leader of the opposition in the assembly — was defeated by an independent Manish Jain — the son of NCP Rajya Sabha member Ishwarlal Jain — because the Sena supported Jain. Raj’s tea party provided him and the BJP with an opportunity to posture against the Sena. The Sena’s worry is the election due in 14 months to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC),where it faces the uphill task of retaining power. The MNS has shattered the monopoly of the Sena on the “Marathi” and “jobs for locals” issues and emerged as a formidable rival. After making an impressive debut in the assembly last year by winning 13 seats,the MNS is poised to take on the Sena in the BMC polls. Besides,state minister Narayan Rane’s son Nitesh has floated an organisation named “Swabhiman” that has been taking up civic issues,which indicates the likely emergence of yet another rival. The Sena is desperately making efforts to retain its hold on the BMC. It has launched a new outfit to try and win over the youth,the Yuva Sena,with Uddhav’s son Aditya as its head. Thackeray Senior has also moved centre-stage again,and Uddhav is making an all-out effort to fortify the party. No wonder,then,that the Sena got jittery about the Raj-BJP tea party and overreacted to a meeting that could be innocuous. Neither alliances nor hobnobbing among politicians of different hues is new to Maharashtra. Recently,for instance,Vilasrao Deshmukh of the Congress and Chhagan Bhujbal of the NCP attended BJP leader Gopinath Munde’s birthday bash. Alliances have not been sacrosanct,especially in local bodies. The NCP had tied up with the Sena and the BJP to wrest power from the Congress in the Pune municipal corporation three years ago,and supported an independent — industrialist Rahul Bajaj — for the Rajya Sabha in 2006,thereby ensuring the defeat of the Congress nominee Avinash Pande. The Congress,too,prevented the NCP from grabbing power in the Yeola municipal council (Yeola is Chhagan Bhujbal’s constituency) by forming an alliance with the Sena,BJP and independents. The Sena supported Pratibha Patil in the presidential poll. The NCP has ditched the Congress in 18 local bodies,while the Congress has ditched the NCP in 25.Raj’s hobnobbing with BJP leaders could have been dismissed as a harmless meeting,but for the Sena,it meant a lot more. The paranoia is a good indicator of the Sena’s insecurities.