Uddhav Thackeray’s Rider On Reentering Vidhan Parishad

Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray has once again kept the Opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi on the tenterhooks by not sending out any clear signal about his re-entry in the state legislative council. After his present term in the upper house expires, he will have to face a possible election to be held on 14 May to elect nine MLCs from the legislative assembly constituency. Given the existing statistics, the ruling Mahayuti can elect eight of its nominees easily while the MVA can be confident to bag just one seat. However, there are three claimants: the Congress, the NCP (Sharad Pawar) and the Shiv Sena (UBT), led by Uddhav. The Congress is sore with both partners because they unilaterally supported the candidature of deputy CM Sunetra Pawar for the Baramati assembly byelection, caused by the demise of her husband Ajit Pawar in a plane crash earlier this year.  The Congress was thus compelled to follow suit against its wishes. Now that an opportunity to send one of its leaders to the council is available, it finds itself in a tight corner as the possibility of Uddhav wishing to enter the fray is hovering over its head. There is speculation that Uddhav may nominate some other Sena leader. However, his detractors point out that he had declared his resignation as CM and in the same breath said he would give up council membership as well. However, he did not and hence no decision can be taken till he comes out with a clear, unambiguous stand, they say.