Sena’s internal survey conducted in the city reveals party losing its mass base due to changed ideological stance.
@ashwinaghor
Mumbai: Ever wondered why the issue of renaming Aurangabad and Osmanabad suddenly took center stage in state politics? Why has Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray become aggressive on the issue so much that he is not even hesitating to lock horns with his Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies the Congress and the NCP over the renaming of these cities?
The answer is Shiv Sena is rapidly losing its identity as Hindutva party and the mass support it had. Hence, as a last ditch effort to reclaim lost ground before Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections it has placed all its bets on the renaming issue.
When Shiv Sena party president Uddhav Thackeray decided to join hands with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) one-and-half year ago to form the MVA government in Maharashtra, little did he anticipate that the step would prove detrimental for his party’s very core mass base. After taking over as Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Uddhav Thackeray changed the face of Shiv Sena from a hardcore Hindutva party to a secular one.
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Though he and his party colleagues maintained that Shiv Sena had not deviated from the path of Hindutva, the actions and decisions since it came in power, suggest otherwise.
The startling revelations have come to light in a survey conducted by the party in Mumbai which shows an alarming shift in its support base. According to highly reliable sources, the top brass of Shiv Sena has been shattered by the weekly report of the survey.
“The survey began around two months ago to assess the public opinion about the party ahead of BMC elections. According to the weekly reports, majority of supporters of Shiv Sena have drifted away because of the transformation the party has undergone over the last one and half year. The survey also reveals that the people who supported Shiv Sena on Hindutva have been shifted to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS),” sources said.
Alarmed by the survey reports, Shiv Sena leadership has wrecked the issue of renaming Aurangabad as Sambhajinagar and Osmanabad as Dharashiv. “The fact that the issue of renaming the cities came in limelight out of nowhere, proves that Shiv Sena is in serious trouble. The rapidly eroding mass base can prove fatal for the party in coming BMC elections,” sources said.
When contacted a senior MNS leader on condition of anonymity confirmed having information about the survey being carried out, but refused to comment on the outcome and his party’s future plans to launch a program to take advantage of the situation.
Shiv Sena leadership has realised that the survey has brought bad news for the party and their fate in coming BMC elections is uncertain, rather it is sealed. Now that Shiv Sena has come at crossroads, it would be a difficult choice for the leadership whether to save the government or BMC.
When contacted Shiv Sena spokesperson Harshal Pradhan refused to comment on the survey, however, he said, “Shiv Sena never believed in such surveys. Our cadre base is our strength and we believe in it.”
