A MIND OF HIS OWN

DESPITE PRESSURE FROM ALLIES AND AN OPPOSITION CONSTANTLY SNAPPING AT HIS HEELS, FIRST-TIME CM UDDHAV THACKERAY HELD HIS OWN IN HIS FIRST YEAR IN OFFICE

- KIRAN D. TARE

When his phone rang one eve­ning in July, Uddhav Thac­ Kerry's personal assistant Milind Narvekar rushed to the Maharashtra chief minister to tell him that Sharad Pawar was on the line. “Kiti vela call karat he (how many times will he call)?” an irritated Thacke ray asked Narvekar. By the time he took the call, Pawar, who had over­ heard the exchange, had disconnected.

On November 28, 2019, when Thackeray took over as the 19th chief minister of Mahara­shtra, many had predicted that he would be a “puppet chief minister”, and the shrewd Nation­ alist Congress Party president Sharad Pawar would call the shots. After all, the Maratha strongman was the force behind the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), an unlikely coalition of ideologically opposed par­ ties, and the one who convinced acting Congress chief Sonia Gandhi to back Thackeray as chief minister.

Yet, a year down the line, Thackeray has proved his detractors wrong and emerged his own man. He has withstood pressure from his own allies, refusing to let the senior Pawar or his ambitious nephew Ajit dictate terms, yet follow­ ing the coalition dharma of giving NCP and Congress ministers enough free­ dom without total control. At the same time, he has survived the BJP’s constant snapping at his heels, whether over his handling of Covid or the attempt to im­ plicate his son Aaditya in the Sushant Singh Rajput case, and overcome roadblocks placed in his way by an unfriendly state governor.