The conflict between Raj and Uddhav Thackeray has a long story. Raj started his political career as a firebrand president of Sena’s student wing Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Sena (BVS). Raj was quite a power centre and an active youth leader. Of course, he was rash and sort of a Junior Thackeray, mainly due to his look and oratory skills. During the crucial 1995 Assembly elections, in which the Sena won 78 seats, Uddhav Thackeray became active for the first time. After the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance came to power, Uddhav’s stature also rose, meanwhile, Raj was sidelined. Raj was seen as the political heir of Sena founder Bal Thackeray. However, Balasaheb, as he was known, selected his son Uddhav as his successor, Raj left the family fold in 2005 to launch his own party, which claims an almost identical vote bank based on regional chauvinism. At that time, Raj was not even a competitor. Bal Thackeray declared Uddhav’s candidature for the post with a big bang, thereby making him even more non-functional. Raj’s supporters slowly drifted to Uddhav’s camp. Balasaheb’s illness added a different dimension to the Raj-Uddhav conflict. The Shiv Sena supremo’s deteriorating health made him give a clear message that he wanted to crown Uddhav and not his nephew. The national media played up this fact. As Uddhav became a virtual leader, the 2004 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections saw denial of party tickets to Raj loyalists, shattering his hopes of getting support of a good number of MLAs. Uddhav, that time had a support of all 52 Sena MLAs and 101 corporators in the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation.
Nine years after breaking away from the Shiv Sena, Raj Thackeray recently fumbled over his own party symbol and urged people to vote for “the bow and arrow” – the Sena’s symbol – before correcting himself.
There has always been reports in media about Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged brother MNS chief Raj Thackeray coming together. Whenever assembly or municipality elections approach, media start speculating about a patch up between the two cousins. On the other hand, both Raj and Uddhav deny that there has been any meeting between them and claim that the media reports are false. Media always cook up stories about reconciliation between two brothers whenever they meet but many times it turns out to be a personal meeting instead of a political one. The Shiv Sena is an established political party in Maharashtra on the other hand MNS is yet to gain its foothold in the state. Few years back, the MNS had played spoilsport by winning 13 seats in the 2009 assembly polls and was emerging as a strong opponent of Sena. However voters have given a thumps down to the MNS in the 2014 assembly election as the party could manage to win only one seat prompting Raj Thackeray to rethink his poll strategy. The party now faces a tough task to revive itself in the state. Even though politically the cousins have attacked each other – as a family they remained together. In July 2012, when Uddhav had to undergo angiography and angioplasty, Raj, his wife Sharmila, and other family members were by his side.
MNS’ 2009 violent agitation in which Raj Thackeray had managed to get the attention of the traditional voters of the Shiv Sena. This also raises doubts on whether the MNS is losing appeal among the middle class and sons of the soil.
Once seen as a potential successor, and then seen as the head of a party that would destroy the Shiv Sena, Raj Thackeray and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena have effectively been relegated to the scrap heap of Maharashtra politics after the state elections. In Mumbai, the MNS got around 24 per cent of the city’s votes, far ahead of the Shiv Sena and emerged as the second largest party in Mumbai with six seats. Can Thackeray revive his fortunes? Raj Thackeray’s agenda for the ‘Marathi manoos’ remained much the same but failed to adequately factor in the change in dynamics. With just one seat in the Maharashtra Assembly, Raj Thackeray has been left with no voice or heft in state politics, instead of worrying about his own future and MNS’s stand he is turning his friends into foes.
