Will Uddhav Thackeray be able to revive fortunes of weakened Shiv Sena?
Mumbai, Jun 29: Uddhav Thackeray's unexpected innings as the Chief Minister of Maharashtra has come to an end on Wednesday as he submitted his resignation to Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Wednesday evening.
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His Shiv Sena had contested the 2019 assembly election with its long-time ally BJP, but severed the ties to join hands with unlikely allies - NCP and Congress. After two and half years of ruling, his own party MLAs forced him step down from his position.
"Whatever I do, whether I desire it or not.... I do it with determination," Thackeray had said during his Facebook Live on June 22.
This determination has been a constant all through his political career that saw Shiv Sena witnessing ups and downs since he first took over as the acting president and party chief after his father Bal Thackeray's death in 2012. The youngest son of Bal Thackeray, Uddhav, also known as 'Digga', started helping his father in the party affairs in the early 1990s.
This determination has been a constant all through his political career that saw Shiv Sena witnessing ups and downs since he first took over as the acting president and party chief after his father Bal Thackeray's death in 2012. The youngest son of Bal Thackeray, Uddhav, also known as 'Digga', started helping his father in the party affairs in the early 1990s.
Thackeray,
a
Soft-spoken
and
Quiet
Politician
A
soft-spoken
and
quiet
politician,
he
was
elevated
to
the
post
of
executive
party
president
in
2001
over
his
younger
cousin
Raj
Thackeray,
considered
to
be
more
charismatic.
This
elevation
led
to
splits
in
the
party.
Senior leader and former chief minister Narayan Rane quit in 2005, followed by Raj. But through these storms, the Shiv Sena managed to win the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation and Thane Municipal Corporation elections in 2002, 2007, 2012 and 2017. When Bal Thackeray died in 2012, many party critics predicted that this would be the end of the Sena. But Uddhav Thackeray managed to hold the party together, and also led its transformation into a mature political outfit from its earlier avatar as a party of street fighters.
Ace
Wildlife
Photographer
Known
as
an
ace
wildlife
photographer,
he
also
dabbled
in
aerial
photography.
Some
pictures
of
forts
in
Maharashtra,
taken
by
him,
adorn
the
walls
of
the
New
Maharashtra
Sadan
in
Delhi.
In
2014,
when
the
Shiv
Sena
and
BJP
parted
ways
to
contest
polls
independently,
Thackeray
spearheaded
his
party's
campaign
to
emerge
as
the
second
largest
party
in
the
state
assembly
after
the
BJP.
But later the Shiv Sena again joined hands with the BJP as latter formed government. In 2019, the two parties split over the post of chief minister and the Shiv Sena joined hands with the Congress and the NCP. Thackeray became chief minister of this tri-partite alliance, which many predicted will come apart very soon. Thackeray was also the first from the family to have occupied any public office.
His leadership during the worst phases of the coronavirus pandemic came in for praise. But a section of Shiv Sena leaders complained that he was inaccessible as party president and CM. Several Sena leaders were also uncomfortable with the party's alliance with arch-foes Congress and NCP, which eventually proved to be the alliance's undoing. Thackeray recently said he was never keen on becoming chief minister. "I told Pawar saheb (NCP chief Sharad Pawar)...I go to the BMC for congratulating the mayor (after the mayoral election). How can I become the chief minister," he said during the Facebook Live on June 22, a day after Shinde's rebellion broke out.
It will be interesting to see if Thackeray now succeeds in reviving the fortunes of his weakened party. PTI