'MVA govt in middle of Kurukshetra battlefield': Shiv Sena vows resistance amid 'pressure'

Amid the growing unease in MVA, Shiv Sena accused BJP of using Central agencies to pressurise the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in Maharashtra. Penning an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana on Thursday, Executive Editor Sanjay Raut opined that the only way out was to counter-attack akin to NCP Sharad Pawar and West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee. Pawar's strategy after getting an ED notice just before the Maharashtra Assembly polls and Banerjee's single-handed fight against the BJP juggernaut had won acclaim from opposition parties across India.

Sena MP Sanjay Raut remarked, "BJP is trying to stir the pot by unleashing central investigative agencies after some Ministers and MLAs and industrialists sympathetic towards the government. The solution is to keep counterattacking instead of succumbing to pressure". On this occasion, he also cited the example of the war between Pandavas and Kauravas at Kurukshetra as narrated in the Mahabharata epic. 

"Lord Krishna drove Arjuna's chariot to the middle of the Kurukshetra and defeated injustice. The Maharashtra government is standing in the middle of the Kurukshetra. One can only hope that the opposition should not end up like Abhimanyu," Raut quipped. His comments assume significance at a juncture when Sena MLA Pratap Sarnaik openly proposed rapprochement with the saffron party.

Future of coalition 

Quashing the speculation on the stability of the MVA government, the Shiv Sena leader stated, "Sharad Pawar met the Chief Minister on Tuesday and held a two-hour-long discussion. After leaving the CM's residence, the satisfaction and happiness on Pawar's face was apparent. The CM's self-confidence has also increased in the last few days and what should one say about Congress". At the same time, he refused to clarify on what Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and PM Modi spoke about in their one-to-one meeting on June 8.

Raut opined, "Thackeray must have told the PM that the entire responsibility of the current political situation in Maharashtra lies with BJP. If BJP had not pushed Sena in this situation, then the current government would not have been formed". However, he also took a dig at people who were "offended" by this meeting.

Government formation in Maharashtra

Despite winning a comfortable majority of its own in the 2019 Assembly election, NDA could not form the government over Shiv Sena's demand for the rotational CM post. Subsequently, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the CM of Maharashtra backed by new allies NCP and Congress on November 28, 2019. However, discontent within the alliance has come to the fore on multiple occasions with the Sonia Gandhi-led party openly asserting that it wants to go solo in the next Assembly polls.