Uddhav Thackeray heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) front that rules Maharashtra and is at the mercy of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party of heavyweight politician Sharad Pawar, who the grapevine says personally picked Uddhav Thackeray for the chief minister’s post, for survival. Reports now say Pawar is a little miffed with Uddhav for taking the “unilateral” decision to extend the Maharashtra lockdown and wants him to rectify. Not just the NCP and Pawar, the lockdown extension has also not gone down well with the Congress party. But then the Congress shouldn’t be complaining. Congress party’s de facto boss Rahul Gandhi is on record that apart from supporting the Uddhav Thackeray government, the Congress has nothing to do with the nitty-gritty of running the state and, so, the Congress shouldn’t be questioned on every decision Uddhav Thackeray takes. At the time Rahul Gandhi drew flak for the ‘clarification’, but having clarified, the Congress now cannot demand to be kept in the loop.

That being said, the Shiv Sena backs the Congress to the hilt on “China” and is against the BJP’s diatribe against the Rajiv Gandhi Foundation vis a vis China’s donations to the “NGO,” to the extent of even tilting in favour of the Congress line on PM Modi’s “surrender to China”, and Thackeray's Sena has labelled the "59-app ban" as nothing more than a “digital strike” against the “slaughter of 20 Indian Army soldiers.” Sena editorials in mouthpiece ‘Saamna’ are harsh reminders to Modi and the BJP that the Sena’s honeymoon with the Congress is not going to end any soon, and they also read and sound very pro-China.

Again, that being said, Thackeray and by extension the Shiv Sena has been chaffing of late, and seemingly wants a degree of independence in running the state. And while the decision to extend the Covid-19 lockdown is one challenge thrown to his two coalition partners, Uddhav also appointed a chief secretary who it appears loves to run contrary to the direction pointed out by the Congress, and the NCP. Chief Secretary Ajoy Mehta says he cannot help it if “some people” do not like his way of functioning. The problem for the NCP and Congress is that Mehta has Uddhav’s back and is pretty much a pal of the opposition BJP, too – he was chief secretary of Devendra Fadnavis also! Mehta is the man who is behind Uddhav Thackeray’s ‘Covid response’, first fighting it as the Mumbai municipality head, and now in his role of chief secretary. Most likely the decision to extend the lockdown must have been Mehta’s which Uddhav Thackeray seconded and ordered implemented.

Now, Thackeray is looking for a “miracle.” A bolt from the heavens to rid the “world” of Covid-19 and the coronavirus that’s also doing some political harm to him, his party and the MVA government he heads. So, continuing with a long-pursued tradition and following in the footsteps of previous Maharashtra chief ministers, he drove to the Pandharpur temple in Solapur district of Maharashtra along with his wife and “prayed for a miracle.” Surely, the spread of the coronavirus in Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai, requires more than human intervention. But, for all his temple-visit and prayers, the situation is not going to get better any time soon. There are those who look at Uddhav’s “prayer” as a quaint gesture, innocence written all over it, and an indication of how much he cares for mankind at large, ‘Vasudeva Kutumbakam!’ The point about Uddhav Thackeray is that even his political rivals acknowledge that it’s hard to pick up a fight with him. Such is his personality. The calm demeanour and the equanimity he displays point to the sort of man he is.

But there’s also this belief that Uddhav Thackeray lacks “fire in the belly” and cannot lead from the front or take tough and unpopular decisions. Whoever thought that now knows better. Uddhav’s calm in the face of fire has wilted that line. Uddhav Thackeray gives the impression of being distant, but it’s only an impression. Maybe the trained photographer in him helps him to zoom in and out of situations. Whatever, post his becoming Chief Minister, Uddhav Thackeray has if not stilled the voices, muted them to a great extent; voices that rose in opposition to his decision to align with the Congress and the NCP, and break with Modi and the BJP.

Uddhav seems to have dumped the Hindutva tag that was once the Shiv Sena’s reason to exist. For a while, cousin Raj Thackeray and the BJP were thrilled at this transformation. The Sena’s Hindutva vote-bank was theirs to split and divide between themselves. But for Uddhav Thackeray, it was the start of a new beginning. And his big challenge’s to keep the “Maha Vikas Aghadi” united behind him for the next five years.

So far things are working okay apart from the minor hiccups and the teething problems that are common to all beginners. The Uddhav Thackeray Government took off to a relatively smooth start, much to the resentment of his BJP CM predecessor Devendra Fadnavis. Opposition-played politics has so far failed to make a dent in Uddhav Thackeray’s calm demeanour, but the coronavirus pandemic has done some harm. The outbreak of Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, particularly the high numbers in Mumbai, has hurt the MVA Government hard and nothing that Uddhav Thackeray did could make a dent in the enormity of the crisis.

On top of it, nothing that the Centre was doing under the “guidance” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi was making a difference. The migrant workers crisis overwhelmed. The shortage of hospital beds made depressing headlines. The “testing” or the lack of enough testing has given detractors nails to drive into the... In fact, testing has become a hot topic of dissenting views and there are no clear directions from Delhi. It’s now all down to Thackeray’s prayer. Will the gods intervene and bail Uddhav Thackeray out? The man they say was not willing to become Chief Minister, but now that he is CM, he wants every one behind him, including God! (IPA Service)