The Shiv Sena has paid Sharad Pawar of the NCP — a former rival, soon a partner in government — a glowing tribute through its mouthpiece Saamana. This evening, the Sena’s leader, Uddhav Thackeray, will be sworn in as the chief minister of Maharashtra.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Sena-led govt to take charge after weeks of instability
- Shiv Sena hails Pawar, blasts BJP in Saamana
- Uddhav Thackeray to be 18th CM of Maharashtra
The Sena’s glowing tribute was printed in the Saamana newspaper, its mouthpiece, on Thursday. The Maharashtra party is preparing to lead an unlikely governing alliance with Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.
At the weekend, when this coalition was still in talks, a rebel leader from the NCP abruptly jumped ship to support a BJP-led administration. But the “Maha Vikas Aghadi” refused to give up. Within four days, the NCP rebel — Sharad Pawar’s nephew Ajit — stepped down as deputy chief minister, triggering the new government’s collapse.
For the opposition alliance, the path to power was clear.
This evening the Shiv Sena’s leader, Uddhav Thackeray, will be sworn in as chief minister at Mumbai’s iconic Shivaji Park — the site of the Sena’s first ever rally in 1966, and the place where its founder, Balasaheb Thackeray, was cremated.
The Saamana newspaper tore into the BJP on Thursday, saying “forming governments with terror and toppling” had gone on for the past five years but Maharashtra had “overshadowed it all”.
It said the government poised to take charge would not misuse state machinery for “deceit and conspiracies”, and would “function in a clean manner”.
Prasanta Patnaik