Mumbai:

As the campaign for the Lok Sabha elections gathers momentum, leaders of two prominent regional parties in Maharashtra, Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray, are fighting for their political survival.

The polls will also be a tough test for Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his deputy and NCP chief Ajit Pawar as they battle to separate their respective political party and threw its fate into the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

But the challenge for Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar is more serious as they have lost power and control over their respective parties – the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) respectively. — along with the original name and election symbols.

The Election Commission and the Speaker of the Maharashtra Assembly recognized the NCP led by Ajit Pawar and the Sena Party led by Shinde as the real NCP and the real Shiv Sena Party.

Senior journalist and political analyst Prakash Akolkar told PTI that both leaders need to perform well in the polls otherwise they risk political demise.

“Uddhav Thackeray needs to elect at least six to seven MPs to unite his supporters till the Assembly elections later this year,” Mr Akolkar said.

The veteran journalist pointed out that Mr Thackeray has to contest as many Lok Sabha seats as his party contested when he was a BJP ally in 2019 and he is doing so despite the Congress claiming to hold some of them seat, but he has so far announced 21 candidates.

NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) is contesting from 10 seats under a seat-sharing formula worked out with its MVA allies Sena (UBT) and Congress.

But Akolkar said the elder Pawar’s key seat is his hometown Baramati, where his daughter, three-time MP Supriya Sule, is facing a challenge from Ajit Pawar (Ajit Pawar) Wife Sunetra Pawar’s Challenge.

“Sharad Pawar loses everything if he loses Baramati. This is a battle between him and his nephew Ajit, who has been running and controlling the Baramati constituency for the family all these years ,” Acolca said.

Sharad Pawar, 83, has never lost an election in his more than 50-year political career, while Uddhav Thackeray has never contested a direct election.

When Mr. Thackeray became the Chief Minister, he was elected to the Legislative Council. Sindhis often mocked him for not stepping out of his home while holding the state’s top job.

But in the run-up to the elections, Mr. Thackeray has been traveling to different parts of the state and his rallies are getting a good response.

Sharad Pawar is also on the move and is also reaching out to his old rivals from Pune district (where Baramati constituency is located) like Thopates in Congress to ensure smooth sailing for his daughter.

The direct competition between the MVA and Mahayuthi’s alliance has become triangular as seat-sharing talks between the MVA and Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar’s Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) break down struggle, which, in Akolca’s view, will benefit the ruling coalition.

Another senior journalist Abhay Deshpande pointed out that the election will also test Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray’s claims that the traditional voters and cadres of their respective parties are loyal to them.

Deshpande added that there is also unrest among the BJP cadre and it must be seen whether they are working wholeheartedly for the Ajit Pawar-led NCP and Shinde-led Shiv Sena candidates.

“Party splits are not a new phenomenon. But after the split, for the first time, the rebels hijacked the original party and gained recognition,” he noted.

“The slogan of 400-plus seats is to motivate the BJP workers. But to achieve this target, the BJP has to retain the 41 seats it had in Maharashtra in 2019 (which it had with undivided parties). seats won by the MLA). It will be a challenge because of the alliances and the reshuffling of the political equation,” Mr. Deshpande said.

Harshal Pradhan, a former journalist and now a close associate of Uddhav Thackeray, claims that these elections are actually about the survival of the BJP and its leadership .

He alleged that the BJP used central investigative agencies to weaken and intimidate opposition parties by accusing opposition leaders of corruption and then inducting them into the party fold.

Mr. Pradhan said that when Uddhav Thackeray was Chief Minister for two-and-a-half years, he worked to mitigate the damage caused by Konkan cyclone and save lives during the COVID-19 pandemic.

He claimed that Uddhav Thackeray’s growing political stature during this period made the BJP unsafe.

NCP (SP) spokesperson Clyde Crasto echoed the sentiment.

“This election is a fight for survival for the BJP as they fear they will lose and therefore resort to cheap tactics like dividing the party and the family,” he claimed.

Senior Congress leader and political commentator Ratnakar Mahajan said, “Both Shinde and Ajit Pawar are over 60 years old. It is a new age to start a new chapter. It is not easy. But they are doing this (splitting the party) not for power but to avoid what might happen.” Actions taken by the ED, Income Tax and CBI, which the Union government is using to harass opposition leaders. ” He believes that Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray will seek proof of their political stance in these elections.

“After the 2019 Assembly elections, an unusual alliance emerged on the initiative of these leaders. There were differences within the Shiv Sena over joining hands with Pawar. But the two leaders went ahead and Thackeray became the chief minister . Now they’re trying to retain their control of the state’s electorate,” he said.