Doomsayers have been predicting the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s downfall since the day it came to power outwitting the BJP. Completing a year in November 2020, the Sena’s alliance with the NCP and the Congress remains tenuous. Ideological differences and fragile egos keep throwing up one controversy or another. The latest is over renaming Aurangabad as Sambhaji Nagar after Chhatrapati Shivaji’s son killed by Aurangzeb. The Congress opposes the move, saying it’s not part of the MVA’s common minimum programme.
This controversy came close on the heels of Sena leader Sanjay Raut comparing the Congress-led UPA to an NGO and demanding that NCP chief Sharad Pawar be made UPA chairman, a post held by Sonia Gandhi. In an interview, Pawar had said Rahul Gandhi’s leadership “seems to be lacking in consistency”. Adding to the Congress’s displeasure, the NCP recently “poached” 18 of its corporators in the Bhiwandi-Nizampur civic body. Congress leaders claim there is an attempt to sideline their party in the MVA, with the bigger two partners working towards an exclusive alliance. Local body polls later this year will be the test.
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