Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena chief Eknath Shinde is all set to sound the poll bugle in Maharashtra with rallies in all 48 Lok Sabha seats across the state as a part of his “Shiv Sankalp Abhiyan” even as his party’s future hang in the balance.
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The Shiv Sena has constituted a central committee to oversee the planning and preparation of the Abhiyan. The panel will coordinate with the party’s office-bearers in all districts of the state to ensure its success.
Party functionaries said Shinde’s rallies would be held in two phases before the joint rallies of the ruling alliance. The first phase will commence on January 6 with a rally in Yavatmal in the Vidarbha region and will conclude with a rally in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
The second phase will begin on January 25 with a meeting in Shirdi in Ahmednagar district and will end with a meeting in Hatkanangale of Kolhapur district on January 30.
A two-day special camp for Shiv Sainiks and office-bearers will be held in Kolhapur to conclude the “Shiv Sankalp Abhiyan”.
Following his rebellion in 2022 and the subsequent split in the party, the Shinde group gained approval from the Election Commission that ruled it was the real Shiv Sena and also allotted the “bow and arrow” symbol to it.
The Lok Sabha elections will be Shinde’s first electoral battle post the split and an opportunity for him to prove his mettle. Political observers said the elections would test the Sena and decide the future of the party in the state as it will show how much support he has on the ground.
One of the biggest challenges facing Shinde is countering the narrative set by Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Usshav Thackeray that the CM betrayed the trust of party founder Bal Thackeray. Shinde is also likely to find it tough to tackle the sympathy that Uddhav has gained after the Shinde-led rebellion led to the fall of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.
Apart from reinforcing its claim to Bal Thackeray’s legacy, the party is also struggling to set up an organisational structure in districts as Shinde has not managed to shift the loyalties of shakhas which continue to be firmly behind Thackeray. The Shinde-led party has also yet to get a grip on its stronghold of Mumbai as only a handful of shakha pramukhs and 17 of 90 corporators have joined it. Shinde has been able to create a strong organisational structure only in Thane, Raigad, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
According to some political observers, the future of the party is dependent on how beneficial it can be for the BJP in the coming polls. “The CM knows that his existence will depend on how much he is able to contribute to help Prime Minister Narendra Modi win and hence will leave no stone unturned to achieve this,” said a political observer.
Last week, after a meeting with office-bearers, Shinde said a division-wise campaign of the ruling alliance would be held, the dates for which will be decided soon.
In the meeting, Shinde instructed party leaders to make the Abhiyan a grand success and directed them to ensure that all kalyan schemes being implemented by the state government reach people. He urged party workers to ask for people’s votes by highlighting the good works of the government.
“The CM expressed his determination to contest the 48 Lok Sabha seats and asked us to lend full support to the candidates of the ruling alliance without paying heed to rumours,” said a Sena functionary.
The Uddhav-led faction, meanwhile, criticised the proposed Abhiyan. “It will be a grand show of treachery, lies, corruption, crime and how Maharashtra was forced into being a state without democracy, a state without a government run from, and by Maharashtra. They can display their faces of lies and corruption, we will speak of Maharashtra’s interests and national interests,” former minister Aaditya Thackeray said.
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