Maharashtra: Maximum Mess

A fortnight after the assembly election results, Maharashtra is under central rule. And there is still no clarity on who could form a new government.

- Giridhar Jha

How does a hardcore Hindu right-wing party find common ground with two avowedly secular and liberal parties? Yet, here are, trying to make sense of the drama unfolding in Maharashtra where two long-time allies broke off over a matter as simple as sharing the spoils of a battle fought jointly. And that, in short, is the crux of the mess in Maharashtra—the Shiv Sena pulling out of the BJP-led alliance and turning to the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress in search of potential partners. But, strange bedfellows are not a rare entity in Indian politics. Sworn enemies have built bridges, avowed allies crossed swords and ideological differences have blurred in a relentless quest for power over the years. The post-election high drama in the western state only reinforces the well-known theory that in politics, it’s not over till it’s over.

And none will be more aware of this than the BJP, which apparently read the Shiv Sena part of the script wrong. Barely a fortnight after the election results on October 24 propelled the BJP-Sena alliance to the simple majority with 161 seats in the 288-member in the assembly, the state was placed under the central rule on November 12. The nature of the verdict, far from a landslide the saffron mahayuti (grand alliance) was expected to pull off, was such that it seemed to have whetted the vaulting ambition of the Sena to make an all-out bid for extracting a slice of the victory pie, larger than what its partner was willing to spare. A prolonged stand-off caused by Sena’s call for an equal share in power, based on a so-called 50:50 formula led the 30-year-old allies to part ways on an acrimonious note, throwing the state into a vortex of political instability.