Mumbai: Following the local body polls in Maharashtra, the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) is on the verge of disintegration amid widening cracks between Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and Congress, and with leaders from Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) keen on merging with the rival Ajit Pawar faction.
The latest irritant in the relationship is the Chandrapur Municipal Corporation election. Despite emerging as the single largest party, Congress could not elect its mayor because the Shiv Sena-UBT’s local unit supported the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate.
Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal told media persons, “Since Sena-UBT is a part of MVA and INDIA bloc, they were expected to support us in Chandrapur. The decision they took in Chandrapur, they will have to pay for it all over the state. Should Congress take the same decision in Parbhani?”
Sapkal was referring to Congress’s support to Sena-UBT in Parbhani Municipal Corporation, where both parties came together to assume power.
Until Tuesday morning, Shiv Sena-UBT leaders had been saying that they would not help BJP in Chandrapur, but the local unit decided otherwise. According to Sena-UBT sources, the party leadership is expected to take action against the local unit for not conforming to the party line.
“These decisions are taken by the local unit. This is not the decision of MVA or our party,” MLC and senior Sena-UBT leader Anil Parab told mediapersons Tuesday.
But the Chandrapur episode is just the latest flashpoint. Congress and Sena-UBT have been drifting apart for some time now.
For the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls, Sena-UBT had wanted to contest together with Congress, but the latter had decided to go solo, citing the presence of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the alliance.
“Congress, for the longest time, was saying they don’t need us. Even in Chandrapur, they have two groups, and one of them, the Dhanorkar group said they didn’t need us. What were we supposed to do?” a Sena-UBT leader told ThePrint.
Pratibha Dhanorkar, the MP from Chandrapur constituency is junior to Congress Legislature Party leader Vijay Wadettiwar, the MLA from the region. For some time now, there has been infighting in Chandrapur over holding control of the local unit.
The leader added, “The decision regarding what happened [in Chandrapur] will be taken by Uddhav saheb. Right now, there are no elections… Let’s see what the leadership decides about the future.”
Meanwhile, Sapkal has been summoned by the Congress high command to Delhi to discuss the evolving situation in the state.
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Congress rethinking its ties?
The Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed in 2019 under special circumstances, with the Congress joining hands, for the first time, with the undivided Shiv Sena—a party it had previously opposed on grounds of different ideologies.
After the split in Shiv Sena in 2022, the MVA remained intact, with the Thackeray faction continuing to be a part of it. Congress and Sena-UBT fiercely fought the 2024 Lok Sabha elections together. But cracks had begun emerging amid the seat-sharing negotiations.
For instance, Sena-UBT had wanted to contest the Sangli Lok Sabha seat—a traditional stronghold of the Congress. Even then, the local unit of Congress was upset with the way Sena-UBT had handled the matter.
“That seat was never theirs as they had no chance to win it. But because of the alliance dharm, we let it have them. They were just adamant on contesting the seat without realising the ground reality. What happened… they eventually lost it and the Congress candidate won as an Independent,” a senior Congress leader told ThePrint.
However, the parties maintained the partnership for the assembly polls, a few months later. But the cracks widened post the alliance’s dismal performance.
And for the local body polls, both parties fought separately.
“For BMC, the local unit of Congress did not want to join hands with us despite our invitation. They were adamant about it. So, in Chandrapur, our local unit decided what it felt was right,” said a senior Shiv Sena-UBT leader.
In the BMC polls last month, the Mahayuti (BJP and Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena) won 118 seats—four more than the majority mark. It was expected that the Sena-UBT, which emerged as the largest opposition party, would field a candidate against BJP for mayor. However, BJP’s mayoral candidate went on to be elected unopposed, which upset the Congress.
Moreover, the Shinde-led Shiv Sena, along with the two NCPs, will be one bloc in the BMC, which is further proof of the MVA disintegrating. Sharad Pawar’s NCP has only one corporator, who has extended support to Shinde’s Sena.
The chatter about the possibility of the two NCPs merging has also left the Congress in contemplation mode. Sources within the Congress say that it is preparing its grassroot level workers to fight the 2029 polls solo.
“What Shiv Sena (UBT) did was not right. It shows that the leadership has no control over their local-level leaders. They should have held thorough talks when the discussion with us was underway in Chandrapur. It seems that in 2029, there will be a BJP versus Congress contest in the state,” a second senior Congress leader told ThePrint.
Speaking to the media Monday, Sapkal said that there is still time for 2029, and the party will take a call based on the political situation then.
“MVA was formed in 2019 under special circumstances. In the local body polls, however, we fought solo, or in alliance, depending on the local situation. Congress has emerged as the largest opposition in the state,” he said.
With the latest developments and no election on the horizon yet, the future of MVA remains in limbo. Though Congress seems determined to evaluate the future of the alliance, Shiv Sena-UBT, on other hand, is hopeful about MVA.
“Just because the Chandrapur incident happened, it doesn’t mean that the MVA is broken. These decisions are taken by the top leadership. Sapkal or anyone can say anything now…the decision will be taken later. At the moment, MVA is together,” said the senior Shiv Sena UBT leader quoted above.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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