Mumbai: Identifying potential MP candidates, door-to-door campaigns and voter outreach — this is what the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), weakened in both the Lok Sabha and the Maharashtra assembly following the Eknath Shinde-led rebellion last year, is doing to rebuild itself ahead of the 2024 elections, leaders of the party have told ThePrint.
Apart from the Lok Sabha polls, the state is also scheduled to elect a new assembly next year.
In June 2022, Shinde, who is now the chief minister in alliance with the BJP, led a rebellion in the Shiv Sena that saw 40 MLAs leave the party, toppling the erstwhile Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government. Thirteen of its 18 MPs in the Lok Sabha also joined the Shinde faction.
According to party leaders, Thackeray has asked district units of the Shiv Sena (UBT) to conduct door-to-door campaigns to help reach out to voters before next year’s elections. In addition, the party is identifying leaders who could be fielded in the elections, and is also reaching out to civil society members to help spread its message.
Sunil Modi, the Kolhapur city head of Shiv Sena (UBT), admitted to ThePrint that the task was challenging.
Considered a NCP stronghold, Kolhapur district has two MPs, both from Shinde’s Shiv Sena — Sanjay Mandlik, a former Congress leader, representing Kolhapur, and Dhairyasheel Mane, son of former NCP leader Nivedita Mane, from Hatkanangle.
“We cannot deny their strength at the ground level and their votebank has been there since a long time because of their families. But the district functionaries have already identified 3-4 people to take their place,” Sunil Modi said, adding that Thackeray had instructed the party to prepare for the elections four months ago.
Similar efforts are also being made in other districts, such as Nashik, Aurangabad and Thane.
However, much of the party’s plans hinge on the Sena’s alliance partners — Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). Although they led the state in alliance from November 2019 to June 2022, the three parties have yet to fight an election together.
On Monday, the MVA held seat-sharing talks for Maharashtra’s 48 Lok Sabha seats, and Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders say that much of their efforts will depend on the outcome of these talks.
Rebuilding party
Of the 13 MPs who joined Shinde’s faction last year, only three — Mane, Mandlik, and Hingoli MP Hemant Patil — were first-timers. This exodus of the party’s experienced leaders has left a void that the party is now looking to fill.
According to Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders, Thackeray has held a series of meetings over the last year with various district-level heads to discuss ways of rebuilding the party.
Suggestions ranged from door-to-door voter outreach, to tailoring campaigns to specific areas.
In Nashik, for instance, the party’s local unit has given each functionary a list of 100 voters, with instructions to contact each one personally. The idea, according to Sudhakar Badgujar, the Nashik city head of Sena (UBT), is to help convert each one into a party voter.
“If there is any negativity, we will then work towards making positive changes so that we can get votes for us,” he said.
In Sena stronghold Aurangabad, the plans are more elaborate. From 1 June to 15 July, the party plans to embark on a door-to-door ‘sampark abhiyan (contact campaign)’, according to Kishanchand Tanwani, former MLC and the party’s district head.
“We are going door-to-door to increase our contact with the masses so we can tell them about the Supreme Court verdict, understand what they want, and also explain to them the problems with the current government’s schemes,” he said.
He was referring to the Supreme Court’s 11 May ruling that said that although the then Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision of calling for a trust vote in June 2022 was illegal, the court could not reinstate Thackeray as chief minister because he had resigned before facing the vote.
In Kolhapur, meanwhile, the party has planned to engage 500 civil society members in the district — such as prominent doctors, lawyers, and industrialists — to help its campaign.
“From 19 June, we will hold meetings and campaigns to tell them our side of the story and explain the court’s verdict,” Sunil Modi of Kolhapur said. “We believe they can be influencers.”
Similar party-building efforts are also ongoing in Thane, considered the bastion of CM Eknath Shinde. Here, the party is identifying its weak areas, according to Shiv Sena (UBT) district spokesperson Aneesh Gadave.
“We are focusing strongly on building the party, which is almost complete. Now we have to reach out to every last man, which includes going to houses right in front of CM Eknath Shinde’s house,“ he said.
Second-rung leadership
According to leaders, Shiv Sena (UBT) district units have already identified the leaders who can replace the rebel MPs and MLAs.
For instance, in Aurangabad, where five of the Sena’s six sitting MLAs are now with Shinde’s faction, the party already has a second rung of leadership ready to take over, according to district head Tanwani.
This also means pushing the candidature of old Sena hands, such as Kolhapur district head Vijay Devane, a leader who unsuccessfully contested the 2009 Lok Sabha election, said Sunil Modi.
However, local leaders admit that much of these plans will depend on seat-sharing talks with allies Congress and NCP. This is especially true for places like Aurangabad and Kolhapur — where both parties have strong local leaders.
“We don’t know whether this seat [Kolhapur Lok Sabha seat] will fall into our kitty,” Modi said. “Even NCP and Congress have strong local leaders like Hasan Mushrif (NCP leader and former minister) and the likes, so we are confident that, in any case, Mane and Mandlik will not dent us.”
According to Nashik city head Badgujar, things will now look up for the party.
“With every storm, an opportunity is presented. Shiv Sena is at its lowest. Now nothing worse can happen,” he said. “So, whatever will happen will be for the good.”
(Edited by Uttara Ramaswamy)
Also Read: ‘Isolated but ready to fight’ — in Shinde bastion Thane, Thackeray Sena works to regain lost ground