The Bharatiya Janata Party has started turning to Uddhav Thackeray to mend ties after the dramatic end of the alliance in 2019.

This has come to the fore from sources in both the parties, whom I spoke to for this column.

Governor B.S.

The resignation of Koshyari, who was at loggerheads with the Thackeray-led opposition, is being seen as a significant signal in this regard. 

In June 2022, Eknath Shinde revolted against Uddhav Thackeray, due to which Shiv Sena split.

The Shiv Sena split gave the BJP an opportunity and it returned to power in Maharashtra with Shinde as chief minister. BJP's Devendra Fadnavis had to be content with the post of deputy chief minister, having been the chief minister of Maharashtra from 2014 to 2019, when the BJP replaced Uddhav The state was run with Thackeray.

It's been a few days, when the BJP in Maharashtra is publicly talking about returning Fadnavis as the Chief Minister.

It is being said that before the next general elections, the BJP will appoint its person on the post Shinde currently holds.

Shinde himself is engaged in a long-running tussle with Thackeray over the reins of the party.

The two are at loggerheads over several issues, for example- who gets the rights to the Sena party symbol, and more importantly, Shinde's quest to establish himself as the true bearer of Balasaheb Thackeray's legacy. Changing cadre for the one who formed the Shiv Sena and is Uddhav's father. 

This means there are barely 400 days left for the general elections and the Shinde-BJP alliance is in a loose mode.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in the race to create history for a third consecutive term, does not want to take any chances on the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

Sources told me that the initial attempt to reach out to Thackeray, an estranged ally, was made through a billionaire industrialist who was trusted by both sides.

Now a powerful BJP leader is trying to take this campaign to the level of talks.

Thackeray doesn't seem too enthusiastic about it after his bitter experience of the BJP bringing down his party and the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government he headed. 

Now the upcoming municipal elections of the financial capital are a big test for all the 'players'.

While the dates are yet to be announced, Thackeray, in a shrewd political move, announced this week that his faction of the Shiv Sena would contest the polls in alliance with Dalit leader Prakash Ambedkar's political outfit.

Thackeray said that "Bhim Shakti and Shiv Shakti" have come together to save democracy.

Thackeray's other two allies, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, share vote banks with Ambedkar's party.

Yet, in order to keep Thackeray on his side, he did not criticize his new partner.

Sources say that Sharad Pawar knew about Thackeray's conversation with Ambedkar.

It didn't matter to him that Ambedkar's seats should be from the army quota.

The interesting thing is that the central leadership of the BJP and the Maharashtra BJP seem to be working for different purposes.

Fadnavis, a reluctant deputy, is getting impatient about being downsized.

Fadnavis has created a different image for himself in the Maharashtra BJP and the party's state leaders want the Shinde Sena to merge with the BJP.

After which it will be easy to claim 'big' posts.

But the central BJP feels that promoting Fadnavis at this juncture may lead to an eclipse of the focus on the general elections.

She also knows that Uddhav does not like Fadnavis

The cooling relationship between Shinde and Fadnavis has also been fueled by the appointment of two police commissioners in Mumbai at present.

Fadnavis's critics are accusing him of taking decisions unilaterally and making big announcements on important issues like Old Pension Scheme. 

Shinde is not liking all the moves of Fadnavis and he is irked over the multi-billion rupees Foxconn-Vedanta deal being left out of Maharashtra and going to Gujarat.

Shinde projects himself as a younger man than the Thackeray dynasty and a great defender of the "Marathi Manus".

This image has been badly damaged.

Billions of projects going to Gujarat sends a particularly wrong message to the BJP in Maharashtra, as the history of Maharashtra-Gujarat has been full of bitterness. 

Shinde is upset that members of his army are already in touch with Fadnavis.

Some recent voter surveys indicate that the opposition can put a dent in the BJP's victory celebration through these two states, Maharashtra and Karnataka.

This could be the reason why efforts are being made to improve relations with Uddhav Thackeray.

(Swati Chaturvedi is a writer and journalist who has worked with The Indian Express, The Statesman and The Hindustan Times.) 

(Disclaimer: These are the personal views of the author)

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