Regional parties dominate Maha power politics
Regional parties NCP, Shiv Sena and the MNS continued to dominate power politics in Maharashtra, as seen in the local body elections where two national parties, the Congress and the BJP, are in no position to check them. These elections could boost the morale of the regional parties in the current electoral battle for the UP Assembly.
Maharashtra has been witnessing a fight for political space ever since the Shiv Sena-BJP combine came to power there with the help of a large number of Congress rebels in the 1995 state Assembly polls. And the NCP’s emergence in 1999 has ensured that no single party can come to power on its own in the state. Now, the MNS, led by Raj Thackeray, is gaining political space in the commercial corridor of Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Nashik. If Maharashtra’s capital Mumbai, and its second capital, Nagpur, refused to give a clear mandate to any national party in these elections, contrary to the verdict in the Lok Sabha and the state Assembly elections, the Congress got a clear victory in Solapur municipal corporation.
The outcome of the local body elections could compel those pleading for “ekla chalo (go it alone)” to review this line.
Maharashtra CM Prithviraj Chavan had made the BMC poll an UPA versus NDA battle. On the other hand, the Sena was forced to dilute its hard Hindutva line by allying with the RPI faction led by Ramdas Athavale. Mr Raj Thackeray succeeded in getting some place outside Mumbai after projecting himself as a “fighter”.
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