By Smitha Nair
Last month, Uddhav Thackeray announced a decision that would have been unimaginable a few years ago. The chief of one faction of the Shiv Sena told reporters that when he goes out to vote in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, he would cast his ballot in favour of the candidate of his party’s erstwhile rival, the Congress.
“Varsha tai, maje mat tula milnaar aahe,” he promised. Varsha, you will be getting my vote.
That on-camera declaration by Thackeray is one indication of the major realignment in Maharashtra politics that has been underway since 2019.
Matoshree, the home in Bandra East where the Thackerays have lived for over five decades, is in the Mumbai North Central constituency from where Gaikwad is contesting. Thackeray’s faction of the Sena has been a partner of the Congress in the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance in Maharashtra for the past four years. The third member of the group is the faction of the Nationalist Congress Party led by Sharad Pawar.
Given the long history of rivalry – even antagonism – between the Sena and these partners, political observers have been sceptical about whether Thackeray’s followers could be motivated to campaign for candidates of its allies.
However, the public as
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