Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition took a major hit with the Samajwadi party calling it quits after a Shiv Sena (UBT) leader’s March 23 statement on the Babri Masjid demolition was criticised as ‘uncalled for’.
On the 32nd anniversary of the demolition, Milind Narvekar, a close aide of Uddhav Thackeray, shared a post featuring the Babri Mosque and a quote from Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray: “I am proud of those who did that.” Uddhav and Aaditya Thackeray were also pictured in images posted on the story.
MVA ally Samajwadi Party state president Abu Asim Azmi however, criticised the post, stating, ‘If someone else from MVA says such, what is the difference between the BJP and them? ‘Why should we stay with them?” Azmi and party leader Rais Shaikh took their oaths even though the MVA defied an oath-taking ceremony boycott of the Maharashtra Assembly.
That leaves tensions within the opposition, still reeling from bad poll performance, even higher. On the other hand, in the recent elections the Congress held 16 out of 103 contested seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) secured 20 out of 89 and the NCP bagged only 10 out of 87. The ruling Mahayuti alliance, led by the BJP and its allies, said it won a decisive 230 of 288 seats.
Opposition MLAs including Uddhav Thackeray boycotted the oath taking ceremony even amid the allegations of Electronic Voting Machine (EVM) manipulation. EVM use, said Thackeray, is a ‘murder of democracy’ and he called for a return to ballot paper voting.
Congress’s Nana Patole and NCP’s Jitendra Awhad similarly voiced concerns, saying that Congress had been faced with the ‘undemocratic attitude’ of the ruling alliance. However, Rais Shaikh asked the Shiv Sena (UBT) to explain its stand so that the MVA’s (secularism and constitutional protection) founding principles are upheld.
