The two warring factions of the Shiv Sena, led by chief minister Eknath Shinde and Uddhav Thackeray respectively, are preparing themselves to make the most of their annual Dussehra rallies to take on each other ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls.
This is the third consecutive year in the 58-year-long history of Shiv Sena, when the two rival Sena factions are holding independent Dussehra rallies.
While Uddhav Thackeray’s Dussehra rally will take place on the Vijayadashami day at the historic Shivaji Park at Dadar in north-central Mumbai where the Shiv Sena headed by late Bal Thackeray way back in 1966, Shinde is organising Vijayadashami rally at the MMRDA ground at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) which is located in the neighbourhood of Thackerays’ residence “Matoshri” at Bandra.
Billed as massive shows of strength being put up by the Shinde and Thackeray Senas ahead of the Maharashtra Assembly polls to be held in November end or early December this year, the two rallies are being seen as a major political showdown between the two warring parties ever since the rebel Shinde Sena toppled the MVA government led by Uddhav and formed its government in alliance with the BJP on June 30 2022.
It may be recalled that after the vertical split in the Shiv Sena in June 2022, the the Election Commission of India (ECI) – on February 17, 2023 -- declared the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena as real Shiv Sena and allotted the bow and arrow symbol on May 11, 2023. On January 10, 2023, State Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar – in his ruling in the Shiv Sena MLAs’ disqualification case, recognised the Eknath Shinde-led group as the real Shiv Sena in what came as a setback to Uddhav Thackeray.
Both the rival factions –which have been claiming that they are carrying with them the legacy of late Balsagev Thackery who died of a cardio-respiratory arrest on November 17, 2012 – have gone to town saying that their rallies will attract large crowds.
Since the Shiv Sena was founded at a rally held at Shivaji Park way back in 1966 and till the time he was alive, Balasaheb addressed annual Dussehra rallies at the same ground --except on two occasions – in 2006 when because of heavy rains it was not possible and in 2009 because of the State Assembly polls.
A day after Balasaheb’s death in 2012, his last rites were performed at Shivaji Park. After his father’s death, Uddhav had been addressing the annual Dussehra rallies at Shivaji Park. Only in the Covid-affected year of 2020, Uddhav addressed the rally virtually, while in 2021 the rally was held at the Shanmukhananda Hall at King’s Circle.
