Mumbai:

Routed in the Maharashtra Assembly election, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray was asked if this result has settled the debate over who represents the ‘real’ Shiv Sena — he or his estranged lieutenant and the incumbent Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

The former Chief Minister, whose government was toppled in 2022 when Mr Shinde led a rebellion that split the Sena, had a message for his former brother-in-arms. “You have to work under (Devendra) Fadnavis. First figure out which bungalow you will get,” Mr Thackeray replied.

The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief also referred to the ongoing legal battle over which faction has claim to the Sena’s symbol and name and lamented that the case had not reached a conclusion yet.

The Sena (UBT) has won 20 out of the 89 seats it contested, while the Shinde Sena scored 57 out of the 80 seats it fought. The results were shocking when seen in comparison to the Lok Sabha polls just months ago. In the general election, the Sena (UBT) had won nine seats and Shinde Sena scored seven. And five months later, its tally is nowhere close to the breakaway faction’s score. This would be disheartening for Team Thackeray, which was hoping its poll show would prove it was the ‘real’ Sena.  

The result, however, has raised a big question for Eknath Shinde: will he remain Chief Minister. When he joined hands with the BJP after the 2022 mutiny, Mr Shinde had become Chief Minister despite the BJP being the bigger party in the coalition. Former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had agreed, albeit grudgingly, to accept the Deputy Chief Minister post.

But this time, the BJP has scored a massive mandate by winning 133 out of the 148 seats it contested and is likely to claim the top post. What’s more, Mr Shinde has little to bargain because the BJP can still reach the majority mark, thanks to its other ally, Ajit Pawar’s NCP. This means Mr Shinde has little choice but to vacate the Chief Minister post if the BJP asks for it.

It is this situation that Mr Thackeray referred to when he said Mr Shinde will have to “work under Fadnavis”. The bungalow reference was also loaded because Mr Shinde will need to vacate Varsha, the official residence of the Maharashtra Chief Minister, if he is not in the top post. The bungalow mention has another connotation: it was the mutiny led by Mr Shinde that forced Uddhav Thackeray to leave Varsha after the Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government fell.

Amravati:

Chairs were thrown and threat slogans raised as a mob attacked a rally by BJP leader and former MP Navneet Rana at Maharashtra’s Amravati last night. A police case has been registered and cops have asked people not to believe in rumours.

Visuals showed Ms Rana surrounded by her supporters as a group of people throw chairs at a rally in Khallar village. In one video, she is seen moving towards the mob, apparently asking them to go away. Then some people start throwing chairs targeting her. The former MP’s security personnel are seen trying to shield her.

Following the incident, the former MP reached the police station and demanded that the troublemakers be arrested. Police have registered a case against unidentified people and deployed force at the village. “We were campaigning peacefully in Khallar. But during my speech, some people started making lewd gestures and hooting. I did not react. Then they started raising Allahu Akbar slogans. When party supporters asked them not to use slangs for me, they started throwing chairs,” Ms Rana told the media.

“I was accompanied by mediapersons, but their anger was directed at me. They started throwing chairs and verbally abusing me. Some of the party functionaries with me were injured. It is clearly seen in the video. The six security personnel with me saved me. I was spat on, but it fell on the uniform of a security personnel. We have filed a complaint. If no one is arrested soon, the whole Hindu community of Amravati will gather here,” the BJP leader said.

Kiran Wankhade, Inspector of the crime branch in Amravati Rural, said Ms Rana was in Khallar village to campaign for Ramesh Bundile, the BJP candidate from Daryapur, ahead of the November 20 Maharashtra state polls. “During the rally, a dispute broke out between two groups. We have registered a case on the complaint of Navneet Rana. The situation is now under control. A police checkpoint has been set up in the village. We request the citizens to not believe in any kind of rumours. Further investigation is underway,” he said.

A former actor, Ms Rana represented Amravati Lok Sabha seat as an Independent MP from 2019 to 2024. She joined the BJP earlier this year, and lost the general election. She is married to Ravi Rana, MLA from Maharashtra’s Badnera seat. Ms Rana was earlier with the Sharad Pawar-led NCP.

Ms Rana had earlier made headlines in 2022 when she and her husband were arrested following the announcement that they will recite Hanuman Chalisa in front of then Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray’s residence. Earlier this year, in the run-up to the general election, she had made a controversial speech in Hyderabad. Referring to a 2013 speech by AIMIM leader Akbaruddin Owaisi, she had said, “The younger brother said, ‘Remove police for 15 minutes so we can show what we can do’. I want to tell him, ‘It might take you 15 minutes… but it will only take us 15 seconds… ” She had also said that Madhavi Latha, the BJP candidate from Hyderabad, would stop the city “from turning into Pakistan”. The comments had drawn a sharp response from AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi, who later defeated Ms Latha to win the seat.

Mumbai:

A blockbuster political battle brews in Mumbai – Bollywood’s beating heart – with Aaditya Thackeray, the popular son of Shiv Sena boss Uddhav Thackeray, set to fight charismatic ex Congress MP Milind Deora, who jumped from that party to Eknath Shinde’s breakaway Sena faction in January.

Sources Friday morning said the Shinde Sena had confirmed Mr Deora’s candidature, a day after Mr Thackeray’s party said he would defend his seat.

The two will also face-off against Sandeep Deshpande of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena of Raj Thackeray, who is Uddhav Thackeray’s cousin.

Thackeray junior holds the Worli seat – a Shiv Sena stronghold – that will vote, with the state’s 287 other Assembly constituencies, on November 20.

Except Worli isn’t just a Sena stronghold.

Sena vs Sena In Worli

The posh neighbourhood is in the Mumbai (South) Lok Sabha constituency that is widely seen as the backyard of the Deora family; Murli Deora won this seat four times, including a hat-trick of wins from 1984 to 1991, and his son, Milind Deora, claimed two consecutive wins – in 2004 and 2009.

Yes, since then the Sena has held Mumbai (South).

Arvind Sawant claimed a hat-trick of wins in the April-June federal election. The third was with the Thackeray Sena – as that party, the Congress, and Sharad Pawar’s NCP dominated the Lok Sabha poll in the state – suggesting Aaditya Thackeray has the edge, but nothing is ever certain in politics.

Back in March the Shinde Sena gave its new recruit, Milind Deora, the responsibility of leading its Lok Sabha election charge in the Mumbai (South) constituency.

There was speculation then Mr Deora would be nominated to contest the seat – which seemed the obvious thing to do – but that fizzled out after the party appointed him to the Rajya Sabha.

Mr Deora would, therefore, only oversee the Shinde Sena’s Lok Sabha campaign. And he did a credible job; Arvind Sawant’s winning margin dropped from 1.28 lakh votes in 2019 to just about one lakh.

But the margin of Aaditya Thackeray’s win in the 2019 state election – he had a 65 per cent vote share advantage – underlines the magnitude of the task for the Shinde Sena and Milind Deora.

What will provide a boost is that in the Lok Sabha election Worli voters gave Mr Sawant a very narrow win – he finished less than 7,000 votes ahead of the Shinde Sena’s Yamini Jadhav.

A Third Challenger?

Raj Thackeray could be the dark horse in this election. His MNS opted not to field a candidate from Worli in 2019 to respect Aaditya Thackeray’s electoral debut.

READ | For Aaditya Thackeray, Worli Challenge Likely From Uncle’s Party

But all bets are off now, especially since the reduced margin in the Lok Sabha polls signals an opportunity to gain ground. “In 2017 (in municipal polls), we bagged around 30,000 to 33,000 votes from Worli. We have voters dedicated to MNS here…” Mr Deshpande told news agency PTI.

Aaditya Thackeray, though, is unfazed.

“The People Know…”

The junior Thackeray led a massive rally Thursday as he filed his papers, and told NDTV, “… the people have realised the BJP is a party of hollow promises (and) will stand against Eknath Shinde…”

READ | “People Know BJP, Shinde Looted State”: Aaditya Thackeray To NDTV

Asked about the battle for Worli, he said, “You can see the response of the people. That is their love… The common man and woman on the streets are giving me their blessings.”

What Is Worli Like?

Home to some of India’s wealthiest men and women, the Worli skyline is marked by high-rises and thriving business hubs. But it also contains dilapidated chawls awaiting redevelopment.

Many slum rehabilitation projects have been stalled, and some redeveloped buildings have not provided promised monthly rentals to residents.

The Maharashtra election – one of the two final state polls this year, the other being in Jharkhand – will take place in a single phase on November 20, with results for both states due three days later.

READ | Congress, Uddhav Sena, Sharad Pawar’s Party To Fight 85 Seats Each

The 2019 election was won by the BJP-Sena alliance but that fell apart, spectacularly, after the two failed to agree a power-share deal. Uddhav Thackeray then led the Sena into an alliance with the Congress and the NCP (unlikely partners both) and that angered some of his party leaders.

Two years later Eknath Shinde led a rebellion and overthrew the ruling alliance. He was made the Chief Minister and, in July last year, Ajit Pawar staged a similar revolt within the NCP.

The BJP is allied with the rebel Sena and NCP factions.

With input from agencies

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The rift between the Congress and ally Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of Shiv Sena has widened over the seats in Vidarbha. Altogether, the Sena (UBT) wants 17 seats from the Congress, which is apparently reluctant to hand over any. In Vidarbha, the Congress is confident of victory in all seats.

The two parties were already engaged in a tussle over seats in Mumbai and Nashik and following the war of words with state Congress chief Nana Patole, the Uddhav Thackeray faction has been scrambling for a solution.

Vidarbha has 62 assembly seats, covered under the 10 Lok Sabha seats. It represents 22 per cent of the seats in the 288-member assembly and could prove crucial in terms of gaining a majority.

In the recent Lok Sabha elections, the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi won seven of the 10 seats in Vidarbha. The Congress performance was the best and it won five of the seats – way ahead of the two won by the BJP.

Now, the Shiv Sena (UBT) wants at least 8 of the 62 seats. Party leader Sanjay Raut has said while there is no doubt about the Congress having a strong base in Vidarbha, “we also had 4-5 MPs from there”.

“If we also get 1 or 2 seats, then there is no harm in it,” he has said.

The Congress has argued that the Sena (UBT) is creating a rift in the Maha Vikas Aghadi. Sources say the party is not going to step back regarding Vidarbha, even though veteran leader and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar has been firefighting in the background to patch up the rift. Sources said he has spoken to the Congress high command, as did Uddhav Thackeray.

Last week, at the Congress meet in Delhi under the chairmanship of party chief Mallikarjun Kharge, the state leaders were advised to speak with caution. The state leaders had told Mr Kharge that Uddhav Thackeray’s party is not cooperating with the seat sharing.

The Congress, though, has denied reports of rift and accused the BJP of spreading misinformation.

Congress’s Vijay Wadettiwar, leader of the Opposition in the Maharashtra Assembly, said, “Discussions are still pending on 17 seats in MVA. We are having a dispute with the Thackeray faction on some seats. There are three parties in the alliance. Seat sharing between the three parties takes time.”

Mr Patole has said that the first list of Congress candidates will come on October 22.

Senior leaders are now actively discussing how to resolve the differences.

Polling for the 288-member Maharashtra assembly will be held in a single phase on November 20 and the counting of votes will be held on November 23.

Mumbai:

Congress MLA from Igatpuri, Hiraman Bhika Khoskar, has joined the Ajit Pawar led-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), ahead of the Assembly elections in Maharashtra. Mr Khoskar and his supporters officially joined the NCP at Ajit Pawar’s residence in Mumbai on Monday.

Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and State NCP President Sunil Tatkare welcomed Khoskar into the party.

“Hiraman Bhika Khoskar joined the NCP with dozens of his supporters including former Zila Parishad member Sampatnana Sakale in the presence of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and Maharashtra NCP President Sunil Tatkare in Pune,” said NCP’s statement.

इगतपुरीचे आमदार आणि आदिवासी समाजाचे नेते श्री. हिरामण खोसकर यांनी आज राष्ट्रवादीचे विकासाभिमुख विचार स्वीकारत माझ्या आणि प्रदेशाध्यक्ष खा. सुनील तटकरे यांच्या उपस्थितीत आपल्या प्रमुख सहकाऱ्यांसह राष्ट्रवादी काँग्रेस पक्षात प्रवेश केला. आमदार खोसकर यांचा पक्षप्रवेश म्हणजे… pic.twitter.com/iYO5e6oLcS

— Ajit Pawar (@AjitPawarSpeaks) October 14, 2024

The party further highlighted that it is the “second biggest” member joining the NCP and mentioned that veteran actor Sayaji Shinde also joined the party in Mumbai.

The party also reiterated that Mr Khoskar’s joining will be strengthening the party in Nashik and surrounding areas ahead of the Assembly elections.

“Khoskar enjoys much support in Nashik region particularly in the tribal community,” the statement added.

Announcing the new member in a post on X, the party highlighted multiple other members who joined the party who have been zilla parishad members and also former officials in various districts.

Sandeep Gopal Gulve, Sampatanana Sakale, former Zilla Parishad member Jarnadan Mama Mali, Former Zilla Parishad member Uday Jadhav, Vinayak Malekar, Jairam Dhande, Prashant Kadu, Pandumama Shinde, Dnyaneshwar Kadu, Sarpanch Jagan Kadam, Feroze Shaikh, Dilip Chaudhary, Tukaram Sahane, Ramesh Jadhav, Dashrath Bhagde, Sudam Bhor, Arun Gaikar, Shivaji Sirsat also joined the NCP.

“With the entry of Khoskar, the strength of the NCP party has increased,” said the post.

Maharashtra Assembly elections will be held in 288 constituencies. The Election Commission of India has not yet announced the dates for the election.

The upcoming Maharashtra election will see a contest between the Maha Vikas Aghadi coalition — comprising the Shiv Sena-UBT, NCP (Sharad Pawar faction), and Congress and the Mahayuti Alliance — which includes the BJP, Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde faction), and NCP (Ajit Pawar faction).

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)