Mumbai: In his autobiography which was released on Tuesday, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray had failed to quell the discontent within his own party and resigned as Maharashtra Chief Minister without putting up a fight.
Pawar was referring to the rebellion led by Ekanth Shinde in the undivided Shiv Sena in June last year that led to the collapse of the Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government.
Pawar said he and others in the government also sensed the lack of political deftness in Thackeray, something which a Chief Minister needs.
In the book, Pawar also mentioned that the formation of MVA — comprising the NCP, Congress and then undivided Shiv Sena — was not just a power game but it was a strong riposte to the BJP’s “tendency and intention to finish off other political parties by hook or by crook”.
It was expected that there would be attempts to destabilise the MVA Government but “we did not anticipate that there would be a storm within the Shiv Sena due to Uddhav Thackeray becoming Chief Minister,” he said. “The Sena leadership fell short in quelling this outburst of discontent,” Pawar wrote.
“As Uddhav resigned without putting up a fight after Eknath Shinde and other Sena MLAs rebelled against him in June 2022, the MVA’s stint in power came to an end,” he said.
Noting that Thackeray’s health became a constraint for him, the NCP leader noted that a Chief Minister needs “political acumen” and must remain well-informed about political goings-on, and “we all felt that these things were lacking.” He attributed it to Thackeray’s inexperience.
While the middle-class liked Thackeray’s interaction with the people through Facebook Live during the Covid-19 pandemic, it was difficult to fathom why he chose to visit Mantralaya only twice during this period, Pawar wrote.
Pawar’s revised Marathi autobiography Lok Maze Sangatee touches upon events post 2015, when the first edition of the book was published.
PM Narendra Modi had no sympathy for Shiv Sena: Sharad Pawar
Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, the top BJP leaders, had absolutely no sympathy for Shiv Sena despite the parties being in alliance for decades and, in fact, BJP had drafted an ambitious plan to wipe out Sena from urban areas, said NCP founder Sharad Pawar in the second part of his autobiography, ‘Lok Maze Sangatee’.
The volume focuses on the politically tumultuous years of 2014 to 2019, and includes his analysis of the BJP-Sena turmoil, NCP’s upheavals and even mentions nephew Ajit Pawar raising the banner of revolt by joining hands with BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis in an aborted bid at government formation. All along, BJP felt the 2019 assembly polls would be one sided, but it was proved wrong, said Pawar.
The book says after the 2014 assembly elections, there was a drastic change in the relationship between BJP and Sena. “Though there was an alliance government, BJP had an upper hand. The rift had widened to a great extent, so much so that most of the Shiv Sena cabinet members were moving around with resignation letters in their pockets.”
He added: “From the body language of Modi and Shah, it appeared they did not have sympathy for Shiv Sena, while Shiv Sena had massive expectations from BJP. When there was a need for dialogue, the BJP leadership always knocked on the doors of Matoshree… In the changed political situation too, Uddhav Thackeray expected BJP will follow the old tradition. But BJP leaders felt Balsaheb Thackeray’s status was different, and it was wrong on the part of Uddhav Thackeray to expect senior BJP leaders to visit him.”
