Maharashtra Opposition Under Strain After Thackeray Picks "Surprise" Candidate

The fiasco over the upcoming Vidhan Parishad elections has yet again exposed the cracks within the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVK) alliance. The Shiv Sena (UBT) announced former upper house Leader of Opposition Ambadas Danve as the official MVA candidate without consulting its alliance partners.

Congress leaders, including state chief Harshwardhan Sapkal, however, had made it clear they would support Uddhav Thackeray's party as the sole representative of the MVA only if their candidate was Thackeray himself.

The surprise for the alliance partners came when Thackeray announced the name of the firebrand leader from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar as the MVA's official candidate.

Since the Opposition is entitled to only one Vidhan Parishad seat, all eyes turned to the Congress after this announcement. The party responded swiftly, indicating it would field its own candidate.

The announcement from Thackeray's party was made by its MP Sanjay Raut, who confirmed the development in a post on X.

"Ambadas Danve will be the Shiv Sena and MVA candidate for the Vidhan Parishad elections. He will file the nomination at 11 am tomorrow," Raut said.

The Congress after taking note of his post responded quickly.

"There has been no discussion with us about the decision made by Shiv Sena (UBT). We were clear about supporting Uddhav Thackeray, if he himself was the candidate," Congress leader Vijay Weddatiwar said.

"If UBT takes this seat, we will not let go of the upcoming Rajya Sabha seat," he added.

Weddatiwar said Sharad Pawar's name for the Rajya Sabha had been decided by consensus, and that the party was keen to follow a similar approach with Uddhav Thackeray. This was the reason why the development was unexpected, he said.

"We don't think it is right for them to go ahead without due discussions."

Sources said leaders such as Prithviraj Chavan, Sachin Sawant, Atul Londhe, Naseem Khan, Mohan Joshi and Yashomati Thakur are being considered for the post.

NCP (Sharad Pawar), which is part of the MVA, said it would hold talks with both allies to keep the group intact.

"We will speak to Uddhav Thackeray and the Congress party, and take a decision that suits everyone in the Maha Vikas Aghadi," NCP leader Rohit Pawar said, even as the Opposition alliance has shown little sense of unity since the 2024 election.