Uddhav Thackeray: The accidental chief minister

• Thackeray was known more for his photography skills, which led him to branch off into an advertising business – proving that he inherited his father’s artistic skills.
• Uddhav’s cousin Raj Thackeray was expected to be the political heir, but he too branched off with a new political outfit.
• The rise of Uddhav was just as dramatic as his end.

There is one misfortune of being born to powerful and charismatic men, the constant comparison. Uddhav Thackeray has always been known as the son of Balasaheb Thackeray, the founder of Shiv Sena — even when he held the numero uno post in the state of Maharashtra.

Also, it was a position that most people never expected him to hold — even when he made a stellar statement before the state elections in 2019, that there could be a day when a Sena member would become the CM. This was when Sena was allied with BJP, and only a few cracks had developed.

In his younger days, he was known more for his photography skills, which led him to branch off into an advertising business – proving that he inherited his father’s artistic skills. Balasaheb was a well-known cartoonist in his younger days.

Uddhav’s cousin Raj Thackeray was expected to be the political heir, but he too branched off with a new political outfit.

This changed the power dynamics within and outside the family; along with Uddhav’s career. He had to wrap up his ad business, and join the family business — the business of power. It culminated in his elevation to the CM’s chair, making his own prediction come true.
A dramatic beginning and a dramatic end
And, alas, the day has also come when the doomsday predictions by Thackeray’s predecessor, Devendra Fadnavis, came true.

The rise of Uddhav was just as dramatic as his end. When Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) was formed, he became the chief minister for merely a day when NCP’s Ajit Pawar broke off a faction to join BJP and Fadnavis.

That plan failed too after yet another big man and NCP’s head Sharad Pawar took the control back into hands and placed Uddhav, the son of his friend – back in the CM’s seat.

In the conceding press conference, Fadvanis used the choicest words to describe the alliance, “A three-wheeled vehicle which will move in different directions, and will fall soon,” he had said. However, Uddhav has kept his partners, Congress and NCP — his former adversaries, happy.
The dissent within
Dissent however brewed from within and Sena members felt ill-treated, slighted and left out after most of the Sena power center stayed within the family — Uddhav and his rising son, Aditya Thackeray.

Not only did Aditya hold three cabinet positions, he also attended meetings of departments like MMRDA, angering senior Sena loyalists like Eknath Shinde and many more – as they rebelled against the government.

As the rebels left, Uddhav made no strong-arm moves like his father would have made or even Pawar would have. He simply asked them to come back and meekly vacated the CM’s bungalow, resigning to his fate – long before he resigned from his post yesterday on June 29, a day before the floor test was ordered by the governor B S S Koshiyari, an RSS veteran.

If the Maha crisis as it is being called is a test Uddhav Thackeray’s fortitude, then he accepted his defeat with grace that befits an artist more than a politician.

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