Uddhav Thackeray chose to resign as Maharashtra chief minister on Wednesday night soon after the Supreme Court upheld the governor’s inexplicable directive to him to prove his majority on the floor of the Assembly within 24 hours.
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An unforeseen political alignment that had installed Shiv Sena chief Thackeray at the helm of the financial capital with the support of his traditional rivals, the Congress and the NCP, finally ran into a toppling operation that wound its way unchallenged from Gujarat to Assam to Goa.
The Sena had pleaded with the Supreme Court for the floor test to be deferred as the disqualification proceedings against the rebels had been stayed till July 11. But at 9pm on Wednesday, the Supreme Court cleared the decks for Thursday’s floor test, as directed by the governor, but said the result would be subject to the outcome of the present petition challenging the Raj Bhavan’s decision.
Although the Sena-Congress-NCP political alliance remains intact for future battles, the fall of the government comes as sweet revenge for the BJP which could not digest what it saw as betrayal by its oldest ally.
A new government will now come into being with the BJP returning to power, propped by the Sena defectors who have now reached Goa from their shelter in Guwahati. Thackeray, who had indicated his reluctance to get embroiled in any desperate survival tactics because the numerical deficiency was indisputable, thanked his colleagues, officers and staff after a cabinet meeting in the evening. After the court’s refusal to provide any relief to the beleaguered government, he announced his resignation through a webcast.
Thackeray took care to mention in his farewell speech that the Congress and the NCP, which some suspected would ditch him midway, had stood by him till the end while his own people betrayed him.
“Congress leader Ashok Chavan told me that if the rebels want, the Congress would get out of the government and extend outside support. Those who were expected to ditch me, stood by me while my own left me,” he said.
“Those ordinary people — autowallahs, vendors — whom the Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray picked to make corporators, MLAs and ministers, chose to stab him in the back. They will have the glory of evicting Balasaheb’s son from the chief minister’s chair,” Thackeray added.
“What I did during my tenure was for Marathi people and Hindutva. There were riots across the country, but Maharashtra was an exception. I would also like to thank my Muslim brethren,” Thackeray said in his address.
Although Sena strategists had claimed that some of the 39 rebels were in touch with them and they felt the government might survive, Thackeray himself was unwilling to hang by the thread and offered to resign soon after the crisis.
He had already left the official bungalow Varsha and shifted to his personal home Matoshree, but NCP veteran Sharad Pawar had persuaded him to fight till the end. Thackeray, however, chose not to face the ignominy of losing the floor test and gracefully stepped aside.
Thackeray asked Shiv Sainiks not to create trouble for the rebels. He chose to resign as member of the legislative council as well, arguing that he had committed the mistake of going where he should not have.
His father had not accepted any post and now Thackeray too appears intent on creating an impression that becoming the chief minister was a mistake and that he had no lust for power. He said all he needed was love from the Shiv Sainiks.
Thackeray insisted that he had no regrets over losing the chief minister’s chair.
It is, however, not clear what rebel leader Eknath Shinde has in mind – to merge with the BJP or lay claim to the Shiv Sena as well. If the rebels seek the party organisation as well, Thackeray will have to fight a protracted legal battle. With the majority of office-bearers being with him, Shinde’s task is difficult.
It is a great achievement for Thackeray, vanquished by the machinations of his own people, that the Congress and the NCP still vouch for his character and commitment.
They have praised him for not striking a deal with the BJP despite the pressure and hope to sustain the alliance and regain lost ground in future. The immediate battle now is for the Mumbai municipal corporation, which the Sena has held for decades. The alliance will be tested in that election.
The understanding between the allies was manifest in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday when the Congress and the NCP abandoned their known position on the Sena’s demand for changing the names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad to Sambhaji Nagar and Dharashiv and allowed Thackeray to have his say. The Sena badly needed this concession to try and refurbish its Hindutva credentials.
Additional reporting from PTI