Maharashtra assembly elections 2024: How splits and mergers are not new to state politics

Maharashtra is all set to go to polls next week. The assembly elections will pose a make-or-break situation for regional and national parties alike as candidates fight for 288 seats that are up for grabs.

After the Lok Sabha debacle, these elections will be a litmus test for the Bharatiya Janata Party which is contesting in alliance with the breakaway factions of Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party. Meanwhile, for the Congress and Shiv Sena, the polls will be about getting their ground back in the state.

The big fight is among two of the largest alliances in the state – Mahayuti and Maha Vikas Aghadi. The journey through which regional politics in Maharashtra has reached its current state where the contest is among two alliances has a precedence worth mentioning.

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While it might seem more rampant and dramatic in today’s day and age, defections, splits and acquisitions are not new to Maharashtra politics. It has indeed changed in terms of power dynamics but the core of the issue stays the same.

Here’s a look at all the splits and mergers India’s third-largest state has seen in its political history:

The first Pawar exit

Nationalist Congress Party(SP) supremo Sharad Pawar may be calling his nephew Ajit Pawar a “traitor” but the leader himself is not unfamiliar with defecting in the middle of a government term.

Back in 1978, two factions of the grand old party, Congress (I) and Congress (S) came together to form the government in Maharashtra. Pawar was part of the Congress (I) bloc and hence automatically became part of the administration.

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It would be wrong to assume that a storm within the party was not brewing. The very reason why the grand old party broke away catalysed the first-ever unprecedented split in the government in Maharashtra. And Pawar was the harbinger of this trend.

He left the Congress government with the support of 38 MLAs to join hands with the Janata Party and the Peasants and Workers Party. The three formed a new alliance called the Progressive Democratic Front that made Pawar the youngest chief minister of the state at the age of 38.

The Pawar comeback

The PDF was a short-lived alliance. The grand old party under former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi successfully brought Uncle Pawar back into Congress’ fold in 1986.

Gandhi especially flew down to Aurangabad to welcome Sharad Pawar back to the party.

Five years later, Maharashtra’s other prominent regional party, Shiv Sena, saw its first split in 1991 when Chhagan Bhujbal left over his resentment for not being considered for the post of Leader of the Opposition. Bhujbal joined Pawar’s team Congress and made the now NCP chief his mentor. Since then, Bhujbal has become the flag bearer of Dalit and OBC rights in the state with the backing of a strong regional party.

Second time’s a charm

Pawar did it again. The leader broke ties with Congress for a second time in 1999. Sonia Gandhi’s foreign origins did not sit right with uncle Pawar and that was infamously the reason why he left.

This was the year that saw the inception of the Nationalist Congress Party crafted by Pawar and his colleagues PA Sangma and Tariq Anwar who were also expelled from the GOP.

Cracks in Shiv Sena

As mentioned before, the first split Balasaheb Thackeray’s Shiv Sena witnessed was with the exit of Bhujbal.

The second crack appeared when Thackeray’s nephew Raj Thackeray parted ways with Shiv Sena owing scuffle with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray. Raj formed a new party called the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in 2006.

For years after this, Sena remained free from major breakaways before the Eknath Shinde episode which changed the party lines forever.

Family DOES NOT come first

Till now, the splits and mergers were free from family affairs and were only the result of rifts between political leaders.

This changed in 2019 when Sharad Pawar’s nephew, Ajit Pawar, unexpectedly left NCP, aligned with BJP and took oath as Maharashtra’s deputy chief minister – all in a matter of just a few hours.

Ajit’s move, which was motivated by personal gains in state politics, caught his uncle off guard and caused a lot of resentment within party lines.

But Ajit Pawar’s big ‘power play’ was also short-lived when he flipped, resigned from the post that was just offered to him by BJP and joined NCP back a few days later.

With his nephew back in his team, Sharad Pawar’s NCP allied with Congress and Shiv Sena to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi.

The third major split in Shiv Sena

Eknath Shinde, Shiv Sena strongman, created a storm in 2022 when he announced a rebellion against the then government.

This move made tectonic shifts in Maharashtra politics where Shinde’s disobedience with the Uddhav Thackeray-led government led to its downfall. The Chief Minister of the state had the overwhelming support of MLAs that broke the Shiv Sena government into shambles and made way for a new government with the BJP.

Shinde was made the chief minister of the state soon after with Devendra Fadnavis becoming his deputy. Shiv Sena, thereafter, broke away into two factions – Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) and Shiv Sena (Eknath Shinde).

Like uncle, like nephew?

Ajit Pawar pulled a Sharad Pawar in 2023.

The last setback that NCP witnessed before the 2024 assembly elections was when Ajit Pawar yet again left his uncle to ally with Shiv Sena (Shinde) and BJP.

He was made the deputy chief minister of the state once again and following this he formed his own version of NCP, called the NCP (Ajit Pawar).

Ajit Pawar has stuck around for over a year this time and it is yet to be seen how long this alliance lasts.