The Shiv Sena surely hasn't forgotten its 'humiliation' by the BJP after the Lok Sabha and Maharashtra Assembly polls in 2014.
In those days when Cyclone Narendra Modi was at its peak, Uddhav Thackeray & Co. had very little chance of resisting the BJP and gave its ally in the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) the support to form a government in the state.
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It was the reverse of the scenario back in the mid-1990s when the Sena had come to power as the senior partner, backed by the BJP. For the sons of the soil, playing second-fiddle to the BJP has never been a happy experience.
Now, almost three years since that 'unhappy marriage', the Sena has finally got its chance.
With a solid lead over the BJP in the elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), the Sena looks firm to emerge as the largest party in the Maximum City's civic polls for the fifth consecutive time, and this could see the state's politics taking a new direction in the near future.
In fact, the state could noww also head towards a mid-term Assembly election.
The Sena and the BJP, despite similarities in their political ideology, and the fact that they have jointly ruled the BMC since 1997, are more rivals now than friends.
After calling off the alliance with the BJP for the civic polls in January, Uddhav has repeatedly emphasised — in the run-up to the polls — that his ministers could withdraw from the BJP-led government at any time.
In that case, the government of Devendra Fadnavis would turn into a minority (the BJP has 122 seats in the 288-member Assembly while the Sena has 63) and even though the chief minister has tried to play it down, saying he would seek the help of Independents to keep his government alive, even Modi and Amit Shah know that it is much easier said than done.
In fact, if indeed the Sena pulls out of the state government after its success at the BMC polls, it is very much likely to shrink the NDA as well, and that will not be reassuring news for Modi for future elections.
The only way the BJP could have neutralised the chances of the Sena calling the shots was by winning more or less an equal number of seats as its friend-turned-foe. But that hasn't happened in the BMC as far as early signs were seen.
Shrewd politicians like Sharad Pawar have also has read the pulse correctly and has said his NCP would not support any party if indeed there is a rift in the government. The veteran leader is surely looking forward to a mid-term poll to see his party regain a footing, this time with a resurgent Sena.
With the Congress being decimated further and the BJP also finding it uncomfortable, there is every chance of Maharashtra politics witnessing a new equation with the two regional parties – Sena and NCP – at the forefront.
Is it the end of the traditional secular-communal divide in the state and beginning of the blatant politics of opportunism? Time will tell.
