Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Fierce Political Showdown Looms As Sharad Pawar Takes On Ajit Pawar, Uddhav Thackeray Faces Eknath Shinde And Devendra Fadnavis

Mumbai: There were times Deputy CM Ajit Pawar would become furious if anybody would make some stinging comments against his uncle Sharad Pawar, the octogenarian politician and founder of NCP. And likewise, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray during the days of unity and camaraderie would entrust important job to Eknath Shinde. Now, gone are the days and these faces will try their best to defeat each other.

With the announcement of the poll schedule for the state assembly elections, Maharashtra is all set to witness a clash of personalities between Sharad Pawar versus Ajit Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray versus Shinde and Devendra Fadnavis. Maharashtra has never witnessed such personal animosity in its political landscape as it does now.

While Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray will be part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) along with the Congress, Shinde, Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar will take on under the banner of Mahayuti.

While BJP won 106 seats in the 2019 Assembly elections, Shiv Sena emerged second with 56 seats, the NCP with 54 and Congress with 44. While the Independents were elected on 13 seats, Bahujan Vikas Aghadi (BVA) had won 3 and Samajwadi Party, Prahar Janshakti Party and AIMIM won 2 each. The Other seven smaller parties, including MNS, had just one seat.

The beginning of the last term was tumultuous and filled with dramatic developments as Thackeray led Sena decided to part ways with the BJP. Shocked BJP had then decided to form the alliance government with Ajit Pawar. The government lasted for only 72 hours.

After the experiment fell, the Shiv Sena joined hands with Sharad Pawar's NCP and Congress to form the government. That's how the MVA government came to power. Now, both the Sena and NCP have two factions each.

The BJP is all set to play the role of big brother with an ambition to contest over 150 seats from Mahayuti. From the MVA, Congress is asking for 100 plus seats on the basis of its excellent performance in the Lok Sabha elections.

The MVA is upbeat with the general perception that goes against the Mahayuti - result of which was seen in the LS elections. The MVA has an edge with a lead in 153 assembly seats and Mahayuti has 126 on its side if the poll outcome of Lok Sabha is compared.

The star campaigners for the MVA will be Sharad Pawar and Thackeray along with Rahul Gandhi. For Mahayuti, the onus is on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah.

Current position

Mahayuti

BJP - 103, Shiv Sena - 37, NCP - 40

MVA

Shiv Sena UBT - 15, NCP SP - 10, Congress 43