Aditya Thackray, Sena Choice of CM? Maharashtra Assembly Election

Maharashtra Assembly Election : The Maharastra state government is to have its cabinet expansion on Sunday. Many cabinet leaders are expected to lose their post while few new faces are to be added in the ministry. However, biggest of all surprise may be the inclusion of son of Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray in the cabinet. Speculations are high that he may be inducted as the Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

Breaking the Thackeray Culture

During the Lok Sabha election, the two allies have agreed to equal sharing of seats among themselves. If the rumors are to be believed, the saffron allies have also agreed to equal sharing of power in Maharashtra. Pushing of Thackery Scion as the Deputy CM of state may be one of the clause of the power sharing formula between the two parties. It must be noted that, till date none from the Thackeray family have ever contested an election or held post. Bala Sahab Thackaray to Uddhav Thackaray and also Raj Thackaray, they have never presented themselves for any Cabinet post. However, if Aditya Thackaray becomes the Deputy CM of Maharastra, he will be the first from the family to hold a post.

Predict and Win: Will Aditya Thackeray be the new Deputy CM of Maharastra?

Assembly Election 2014

In 2014 Maharashtra Assembly Election, BJP emerged as the single largest party by winning 122 seats. However, in the assembly comprising of 288 seats, BJP failed to gain majority on its own. Shiv Sena on the other hand had won 63 seats. In the situation of hung assembly, both BJP and Sena went ahead to have a coalition government in the state.

Five years down the line, Maharashtra will be heading into polls later this year. However, this time BJP and Shiv Sena will be fighting the election in an alliance by sharing equal number of seats. Speculations are also high that the two parties have even agreed to share the seat of Chief Minister, that is the state is to have two Chief Ministers in the span of 5 years. Each CM heading the government for 2.5 years. Pushing of Aditya Thackray as the Deputy Chief Minister few months before the state election may be an indication of him being the Sena choice for CM post if alliance forms the government once again.

Will BJP accept the Proposal?

The new cabinet expansion may see Aditya Thackray as the Deputy Chief Minister of the state. However, BJP may not accept the Sena demand of two Chief Minister for the state. Instead they may have a Sena leader as a Deputy CM again if the alliance comes to power.

In 2014, BJP had won 283 Lok Sabha seats. Shiv Sena kept on its pressure tactics against the government for entire five years however didn’t walk out of alliance. In 2019, BJP have won a much bigger mandate. The party is comfortably placed at 303 Lok Sabha seats. Therefore, the pressure tactics of Shiv Sena may not work this time.

Added to it, in the state of Maharashtra, though the Lok Sabha seats were equally divided among the saffron allies, BJP won more than that of what Shiv Sena had won. Out of 25 Lok Sabha seats contested by BJP, it won 23 while Sena could win only 18 of the 23 seats that it had contested.

Outcome

In the state of Maharastra, BJP has more acceptability rate than Sena. Therefore there are little chances that BJP may heed to the demands of Shiv Sena after the assembly election. Moreover, it must be noted that be it Shiv Sena in Maharastra or JD(U) in Bihar, the number Lok Sabha seats that they had won was mostly because of acceptability of Naredra Modi as Prime Minister. Added to it BJP may not accept the Sena demand of having Aditya Thackeray as CM of Maharahtara because the party may consider it to be promotion of a dynasty. However, it is the people of state who decides the result of the election but as of now we may see a new leader emerging out of Shiv Sena.

Title: Aditya Thackray, Sena Choice of CM? Maharashtra Assembly Election

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Pic Courtesy: Livemint