what’s in a name? What we call a rose/Any other name that smells sweet,” Juliet asks Romeo to promise her love and assures him that name and family don’t mean much. In this piece, We are not talking about two people deeply in love, but about the split of Shiv Sena, the bad blood separating them. Led by Uddhav Thackeray and Eknath Shinde, the name ‘Shiv Sena’ and family What matters most when both go to the electorate is in the wake of the Election Commission’s decision to freeze the party’s ‘bow and arrow.’ to stop the use of the symbol and the official name Shiv Sena, with the concession that the new names may have links with his parent party.
One of the leaders of the faction is a direct descendant – a political heir appointed by the father, who was the founder of Shiv Sena, while the other is the successor to the ideology of the founder by a majority MLA/MP. Both are vying for their piece of the pie, and painting a rosy picture for their respective supporters. Following the Election Commission’s interim order that “factions shall be known by such names as they may choose for their respective groups, including if they so desire ties with their parent party”, action boils down to choosing those names. Appeal to voters who could have done. Thackeray should immediately pick one and get it approved by the Election Commission as he will field his candidate in the Andheri assembly by-poll on November 3. Whatever name they officially choose for the commission’s approval, the factions have already been informally branded as Uddhav Sena and Shinde Sena. Let’s see who gets more innovative and engaging in their new branding.
The Election Commission’s order further stated: “The two groups shall also be allotted such different symbols as they may choose from the list of free symbols notified by the Election Commission for the purposes of the present by-elections”. The groups have been asked to approach the commission on Monday. Will Shinde choose the symbol even though he does not intend to contest the bypoll?
Amidst the discussion of election symbol allocation, a question has arisen. Would it be so exhausting to arrive with a new election symbol in such modern times? The electoral history of the country says that the parties which were allotted new election symbols after partition returned with huge profits. But this profit was the result of hard work that took the party’s popularity to its peak in that particular election.
One of these parties, the Congress, went down after reaching its peak, while the other, the BJP, gradually increased from two Lok Sabha seats to over 300 in the same period. The Congress fought its fragmentations and the mainstream parties. Thackeray’s regional party finds itself in the same situation. Its competition is with BJP and Shinde Sena. Thackeray’s first test will be the Andheri bypoll, and if the matter is not settled in his favour, which is most likely as per the previous examples, he will have to contest the local body elections, including Mumbai, without the ‘bow and arrow’. The positive side would be that the new symbol would be very much in vogue by then and would help the former chief minister. On the other hand, if we assume that she does not contest the by-polls and delays choosing a new symbol, then Shinde Sena will lag behind in branding. We will have to wait to know what Shinde will do immediately in the Election Commission to stop the Thackeray Sena in its new track. He can compensate for the gap, if any, by a promotional blitzkrieg in the later stages. Shinde Sena has proved on Dussehra that it has learned to make events out of anything.
While both the armies are fighting with all their might, the BJP is on the receiving end from Thackeray supporters, which include allies of the MVA. Shinde’s ruling accomplice has been portrayed as a villain and has been accused of attempting to dismantle the Thackeray Sena. If the BJP contests the by-election – in fact, it started campaigning long ago – opponents will be using the allegation as an election ploy to attract sympathy votes for a candidate, possibly the widow of a deceased MLA. . The coup is expected to intensify as time passes and more polling takes place. For the record, Shinde has completed 100 days in the CM’s office, which released a list of key decisions taken by him. The decisions will be scrutinized for their usefulness in the coming days. For now, Shinde has emerged as a head of state who is increasingly engaged in the politics of survival and supremacy.
Dharmendra Jore is the political editor of Mid-Day. He tweeted @dharmendrajore
Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
