For more than 30 years India has had regional parties calling the shots in a number of states and ruling them from time to time. From J&K at the head to Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh—now Telangana and Andhra Pradesh—Tamil Nadu down south along with spells in Karnataka. Also West Bengal and regional outfits in the northeast. But never in the land of Shivaji and Maratha pride—Maharashtra!

Till two years ago, the BJP refused to surrender its Hindutva-given right to always head a BJP-Shiv Sena coalition. It didn’t mind the Janata Dal (U) chief ministership in Bihar, playing second fiddle to Nitish Kumar again and again, but it had gotten used to the Thackerays staying backstage.

That was Balasaheb Thackeray’s decision. Unfortunately for the BJP, not Uddhav Thackeray’s. The son of Maharashtra’s ‘Hindu HrudaySamrat’ chose to step out from the shadows to claim the right to rule. And Maharashtra got its first Thackeray Chief Minister.

The BJP couldn’t stomach it. Not when the NCP and the Congress played a part in upstaging it. The BJP had always thought that Hindutva was a glue like fevicol. Alas, Hindutva lost its hold. And Uddhav Thackeray set out to conquer. He would have been triumphant, too, if it wasn’t for too much Pawar going into the heads of certain elements of the MVA.

It is clear now that Thackeray owes his stint in the chair to the Nationalist Congress Party, to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar in particular. The Congress mostly played disinterested bystander. However, some of the powerful men of the party of Pawar wouldn’t let go of opportunities that come with power. The Chief Minister forgot to object or, better still, order a complete full-stop to the illegal actions.

Maybe there’s a BJP hand in the troubles the Uddhav Thackeray dispensation finds itself in, but the damage is mostly created by the NCP. For Sharad Pawar, perhaps, it was difficult to chaperon a first-time chief Minister through the sludge the MVA was getting mired in—corrupt murdering police officers. A Home minister walking into a trap set for him by a top cop. Extortion. A movie-land style murder. And the loudest TV news-anchor on the planet shouting from behind the bars!

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray was way out of his depth. His biggest achievement so far—despite and in spite of the worst sorts of fellow travellers—is that he managed to stay “clean”, despite the MVA being called ‘Vasooli sarkar’. Nothing the BJP threw at him stuck. So much so, the frustration in the BJP is showing—the frustration and the desperation.

The BJP is running out of time, and options. It set all the central agencies, the alphabet soups, on the ministers of the MVA. It is not getting anywhere. The Maharashtra government refuses to fall. The BJP has to win Uttar Pradesh. It cannot afford to lose Uttarakhand. Neither can it give up Himachal Pradesh. The ‘Hindu-Muslim’ card succeeded in Tripura. But it is Maharashtra which it covets, and can’t get!

Unless and until Uddhav Thackeray succumbs, the BJP cannot rule Maharashtra. Prakash Javedekar surfaced the other day, the first time after he was ousted from the Union ministry, and as if told to act commander-in-chief, he called the Maha Vikas Aghadi the 'Maha Vishwasghati Aghadi sarkar'. Should Devendra Fadnavis stop gazing round-eyed at his wife and instead keep an eye on what is happening behind his back?

The BJP says the MVA Government will slip into a coma by March 2022. What thereafter? Will Hindutva-Hindutva play tango, again? There is no other way. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut laughs at the imagery. He has only epithets for the BJP. And Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray isn’t cornered. “We did not get distracted during man-made and natural calamities and will never get distracted… No matter the number of crises that may come, we will continue to work for the welfare of (the) common man,” he said, admitting that there were assaults on his government by man and nature both.

For the BJP, Maharashtra continues to be Hobson’s choice. And Uddhav Thackeray knows the conundrum the Modi Government is stuck in vis a vis the MVA Government. As long as Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray remains “clean”, the MVA will continue to be in power. Corrupt ministers are dime a dozen, they are dispensable—easily replaceable. (IPA Service)