What’s new, however, is that migrant workers working in Maharashtra’s businesses and industries, hailing from the Hindi belt, have been granted leave and sent home to vote. The orders have come directly from the “top” and shows that the relatively low turnout in the first phase of polling hadn’t gone down well with the BJP top-brass.

The Election Commission’s decision to hold polling in the “summer months” is being decried as a “mistake”; also, this is the “season of marriages” in Rajasthan, which kept “whole villages” engaged in tying the knot. All these are being touted as reasons for the relatively low voter turnout.

Reports of amends being made are circulating. Orders have gone to achieve “400 paar” at any cost. Chief Ministers, deputy chief ministers and Members of Parliament along with top party functionaries are all under pressure to deliver and Maharashtra is no exception.

Going all out includes recruiting the likes of Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who has since April 24 started speaking Prime Minister Modi's language. Shah's diatribe targeted Uddhav Thackeray. The UBT Sena chief was at the receiving end and the BJP’s Hindutva agenda was on full display.

The UBT Sena also follows Hindutva but after the first phase of polling, Modi and Shah want sole ownership of Hindutva and barring UBT Shiv Sena a role in the Ayodhya Ram Mandir consecration was germane to the effort. It is another matter that UBT Shiv Sena claims responsibility for the demolition of the Babri Masjid.

Shah started the day insinuating that Uddhav Thackeray was too much in “fear” of former Congress President Sonia Gandhi to travel to Ayodhya and, therefore, ignored the invitation. Whether “Sonia fear” or something else, the UBT Shiv Sena isn’t doing well and June 4 could be depressing for Balasaheb Thackeray’s son and heir.

A drubbing in the Lok Sabha elections could be one step closer to shutting shop. The assembly elections may or may not undo the damage. Uddhav Thackeray made a mistake not going for the Ram Mandir Pran Pratistha and is paying the price. The BJP is now hitting where it hurts UBT Sena the most.

Tying the UBT Shiv Sena’s present and future to Congress actions and fortunes is sound strategy for the BJP. Shah upped the ante accusing Uddhav of “humiliating Lord Ram” and siding with Rahul Gandhi. Lord Ram combined with ‘mangalsutra’ and fears of “wealth redistribution” if the Congress comes to power is a deadly cocktail.

Linking Uddhav Thackeray with “fear of Sonia” is a dog-whistle and at this point in time when polarization is the name of the game, it strikes a particular note. Shah couldn’t have done better. Uddhav Thackeray still claims he’s Shiv Sena President and it tells a lot when Amit Shah labels Uddhav a “fake President of the Shiv Sena”.

Not surprisingly, with Hindu-Muslim polarization top of the to-do list, Shah couldn’t stop from reminding Uddhav Thackeray of Umesh Kohle, who was murdered for supporting Nupur Sharma, alleging that Uddhav Thackeray — “this so-called ‘Hindu hit rakshak’"— did nothing. Along with Ram, "mangalsutra" and “those who have more children”, Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Shiv Sena is progressively being sidelined. The fact is, the BJP does not have to work too hard to taint Uddhav Thackeray with “parivarvaad”, and now as “anti-Hindu”, both of which make it very easy and convenient to link UBT Shiv Sena with the Congress, which is seen as a recipe for disaster

So, the Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray Shiv Sena is feeling the poll heat and Uddhav Thackeray’s gambit to join hands with secular Congress and NCP will be playing out its final stretch with these elections. The honeymoon continues and Balasaheb Thackeray’s son and heir is sticking to his guns. The day Uddhav diluted the Shiv Sena’s ideology, he wrote Shiv Sena’s obituary. General elections 2024 is the one last chance to recover.

Will Uddhav Thackeray survive this assault? Balasaheb Thackeray’s legacy stands transferred to a breakaway faction and Shiv Sena (UBT) is with its back to the wall. Also mentor Sharad Pawar’s faction of the Nationalist Congress Party is in dire straits. The battlelines are drawn.

Several well-known faces are in the fray — Supriya Sule, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar; Pankaja Munde and Narayan Rane.

Reports speak of a couple of descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj also in the reckoning. And the first lot of 11 Maharashtra seats going to polls is saffronised to the maximum possible. Both the Maha Yuti (NDA) and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (I.N.D.I.A) are daggers drawn. But the UBT Shiv Sena will not benefit from the polarization. Talking of contests, the one which is the most intense and interesting is in Baramati, where Sharad Pawar’s daughter and sitting MP Supriye Sule is being challenged by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar’s wife Sunetra Pawar.

Supriye Sule is on friendly terms with the Congress. The video of her in conversation with Congress MP Shashi Tharoor had gone viral. Now, for the first time, this three-time MP is realizing how much of a crucial role father Sharad Pawar played in her political career. Whether Sunetra Pawar wins or Supriye Sule becomes 4th time victor, it will all remain in the family. The BJP’s idea of ‘parivarvaad’ requires some explanation. (IPA Service)