But those were early days, and Maharashtra's ruling alliance could still hold up a moral stance. There was only the allegation against Anil Deshmukh made by upended Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and that man had lost credibility. At the time, the NCP's Nawab Malik reacted to the BJP's campaign against Anil Deshmukh and said that the 'BJP is restless as it cannot topple the MVA government.' This, after Devendra Fadnavis asked the friendly Maharashtra Governor to seek a "status report" from the state government on the law and order outlook in Maharashtra.

Malik said BJP's allegations against the Shiv Sena-led government were "baseless". Somebody tweeted "@nawabmalikncp attacks @BJP4Maharashtra, reiterates that it is restless as it cannot topple the #MVA government." Fadnavis got the chance to sharpen his attack when rogue cop Sachin Vaze started revealing a whole lot of the plot allegedly crafted on behalf of Anil Deshmukh. Today, the disgraced ex-home minister of Maharashtra is in a royal mess and the CBI is probing his actions, shady as they say they were!

The extortion allegation levelled against Anil Deshmukh looks like it will hold. And to give Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray a migraine in addition to a nervous pulse, Sachin Vaze has named yet another minister in Uddhav's Government, this one from the Shiv Sena fold, as being involved a la Anil Deshmukh in hanky-panky. The question now asked is, how many ministers of the MVA Government could have been compromised? The taint on Anil Deshmukh appears to be highly contagious, just as the new double-mutant coronavirus strain is turning out to be.

Yup, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray is up to his nose in challenges. There's the entire Anil Deshmukh upload following the retrograde action by Param Bir Singh who, instead of cooling his heels with the Home Guards, wants to exact revenge for being given an inconsequential position in the hierarchy after the high-profile police commissionership. Rightly said there's never more a dangerous man than a demoted police commissioner!

That said, Uddhav Thackeray's headaches are like the amoeba, dividing at the rate of three multiplied by two. The Chief Minister is facing challenges galore, both from within and without. For one, there's the challenge to keep the MVA Government from folding like a pack of cards. Devendra Fadnavis's hunger for the CM's mantle is like a lover's yearning for his beau, insatiable! And Fadnavis is just the tip of the topple-burg — the entire BJP clan cannot wait to see Uddhav Thackeray's back ASAP. The Fadnavis "tick" is no less contagious.

Point is, the wolves are panting and pawing, they want the Uddhav Thackeray Government's hide hanging on the wall. The highly partisan Republic TV Network is particularly offending with its head honcho still smarting from the reception he got at Taloja Jail courtesy the MVA Government. He's stopped dismissing the Chief Minister with the contemptuous 'Uddhav-Jiii', but that doesn't mean he's decided to let foregones be foregones! Not this gentleman with the blowhorn, he's from Assam and like the Kaziranga elephant, he's got a memory that doesn't forget. Republic TV Network is just waiting to pounce!

Then again, if avenging journalists and the leader of the Opposition aren't gunning for the MVA Government, there's always the reality, stark at that, that Uddhav Thackeray is perched on the porch courtesy NCP supremo Sharad Pawar. But for Sharad Hindurao Pawar, Uddhav wouldn't have been crowned Chief Minister a year ago, and a year later it's still Sharad Pawar who is keeping Uddhav Thackeray in the Chief Minister's chair. Uddhav is hostage to the situation and his silence over recent happenings is telling.

Mr. Thackeray cannot step out of line, the line drawn by Sharad Pawar, and so far Pawar has been considerate, guiding Thackeray out of the troughs and pointing him the right way, taking on one challenge after another. With the Congress letting the NCP take the lead, the Maha Vikas Aghadi has managed to stay afloat. The Chief Minister has fortunately not had to fight his alliance partners. But for Vazegate and the BJP's relentless attempts at power-grab, the MVA Government would have had its hands full with Covid-19 only.

Yup, the biggest challenge the Uddhav Thackeray Government is facing is that posed by the coronavirus. Maharashtra is where it seems Covid-19 has taken root right from the beginning. Today, as the country is in the grip of a second wave of the pandemic, with the virus going berserk, in utter disregard of the Covid-behaviour protocol, dismissive of social distancing and facemask, Maharashtra faces the brunt of the pandemic, with Mumbai and Pune completely in the grip of the coronavirus.

So, as the MVA Government defends Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and insists that the "chief minister will speak at the right time. He need not speak on every issue...," Covid-19 is not letting him remain tongue-tied. Uddhav Thackeray wants desperately to emerge victorious against an unseen and deadly enemy. Having failed to tame and contain the virus, he wants to give the people of his state immunity from the scourge. But that's not going to be because there's a shortage of Covid-19 vaccines and it could be an artificial shortage propped up by the BJP Government at the Centre.

If Uddhav Thackeray succeeds in taming the coronavirus virus with all means at his command, including Covid-19 vaccines, he will be regarded as a successful Chief Minister in the eyes of the people of Maharashtra, which is all that counts for him. But the BJP, of course, does not want Thackeray to succeed, not if it can be prevented, and it looks like it is not averse to using the pandemic to its advantage, not that the coronavirus is anybody's friend. Hardly! (IPA Service)