MVA at a crossroads: As Thackerays get back together, NCP unity appears a possibility, what happens to the Opposition alliance?
Congress charts a solo path in all-important Maharashtra civic polls even as a section of party leaders insists on “pragmatic politics, adopting flexibility and alliance.”
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray (left) and MNS chief Raj Thackeray. (PTI Photo) On the ropes since the Assembly elections last year, the past week has seen two developments that have led to questions about the direction that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is headed in. First, the Thackeray brothers have reunited for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls next month and second, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) factions led by Ajit Pawar and Sharad Pawar are in talks for a tie-up for the civic body polls in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad.
The Congress is the only party in the Opposition alliance that has been left to chart its own course, with its allies moving in different directions to pursue strategies to preserve their hold in areas considered to be their turf.
“Frankly, we are at a crossroads,” admitted a Congress leader. “A section believes we should tread cautiously and consolidate by reverting to our ideology. Some insist on pragmatic politics, adopting flexibility and alliance.”
However, an influential part of the state leadership believes that if the party were to join the Thackeray alliance, it would be seen as the fourth partner in the anti-BJP coalition. By contesting alone, the party hopes to hold on to some of its traditional Muslim-Dalit-North Indian pockets in Mumbai. These leaders see a silver lining in its allies walking their different paths, reasoning that it provides the Congress with the opportunity to emerge from the shadow of its regional allies that loom over it in state politics.
Congress leaders, including state president Harshvardhan Sapkal, believe that this is an opportunity for the party to focus on ideology and work on rebuilding and consolidating its electoral base. Instead of a piecemeal approach, the party has to work on long-term strategies to consolidate its vote share when the regional parties are weak and without any concrete agenda, a party insider said.
“The Congress is the only party which is still pursuing its politics of ideology. In the given political situation, the Congress alone can take on the RSS-BJP, which has left the society divided,” said Sapkal.
However, a major challenge for the party is that, unlike the others, it does not have a strong leadership team in place in the state. With individual leaders often going their own way, the dream of collective leadership remains unfulfilled. However, what has given the party a degree of optimism is that in the first two phases of the local elections, while the Mahayuti dominated by winning over 200 of the 288 municipal councils and nagar panchayats and the MVA failed to cross 50, the party’s tally was higher than that of its allies Sena (UBT) and NCP (SP).
“The Congress is an inclusive party that takes everybody along. In the first two phases, we did well in Vidarbha, which happens to be the home turf of CM Devendra Fadnavis and Union Minister Nitin Gadkari,” said Congress leader Vijay Waddetiwar.
Congress opposed to MNS
Though the Congress has decided to go solo in the Mumbai civic polls, the Sena (UBT) claims it made every effort to bring its ally on board. “The Opposition should come together to give a tough fight to defeat the Modi-Shah design to undermine Mumbai. It is not just any civic poll, it is a battle for Mumbai’s identity and Maharashtra’s identity,” Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said recently.
The party’s Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut tried to persuade the Congress high command to reconsider going solo and is also holding talks with the NCP (SP), said Sena insiders. “If the MVA, along with the MNS (Maharashtra Navnirman Sena), come together, it will help keep the non-BJP vote share intact. With the Congress contesting alone, the division of secular votes will help the BJP- led Mahayuti,” said a Sena (UBT) leader.
For the Opposition, the Marathi vote (26%), along with Muslims, Dalits (11% each), and the north Indian migrant vote, is the cornerstone of its support. While the Thackerays’ coming together is expected to consolidate the Marathi vote and hurt the Mahayuti, the Congress believes it will also alienate the rest of the Opposition’s voter bases because of the Raj Thackeray-led MNS’s combination of Hindutva and nativist politics.
“The Congress cannot endorse politics of hate. It cannot support the MNS, which has been anti-migrant,” said Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad, one of the strong opponents of bringing the MNS on board the Opposition platform.
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