April 6, 1998

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray raps his chief minister and almost pulls the government down.

By V Shankar Aiyar

It is 6.30 p.m. on Wednesday at the chief minister's office at the Vidhan Bhavan in Mumbai. A group of MLAs waiting to meet Manohar Joshi are engaged in an animated discussion on the reasons for the Shiv Sena-BJP combine's debacle in the recent Lok Sabha polls. Janardhan Tupe, the Peasants' and Workers' Party MLA from Beed, is holding forth. "Children in Marathwada have not seen a train but thanks to Gopinath Munde (deputy chief minister) they know what a helicopter looks like."

It is black humour at its political best. Tupe's remarks provoke loud guffaws. And even the alliance MLAs laugh nervously, aware of the fragility of their mandate. Inside, Joshi goes a step further, indulging in gallows humour. Quoting Veer Savarkar, he states: "I do not worry about that which is beyond my control." The reference obviously was to Thackeray's remote control.

The realisation could not have been more timely. Just four days prior to that, Sena chief Bal Thackeray had in an interview in the party paper Saamna rapped the alliance Government in general and Joshi in particular for his alleged connections with power broker Raj Dadarkar and his closeness to Congress leader Sharad Pawar. Thackeray also announced sanyas from party affairs. Many interpreted these as signs that Thackeray wanted Joshi out.

In the interview, Thackeray said that Dadarkar had taken Rs 40 lakh for getting certain works done. Dadarkar belongs to the Mumbai builders' lobby and is said to be a close associate of Joshi's son Unmesh. Interestingly, Congress MLA R.R. Patil had also charged that Dadarkar, with Joshi's backing, had clandestinely taken over several school buildings in Dadar and was part of a ruling clique that was influencing decisions in the Urban Development Ministry, which is under Joshi's charge.

The Sena chief was also particularly piqued with Joshi for not attacking Pawar with the same vigour like him. Thackeray believes there is a Joshi-Pawar nexus and sees evidence of this in the fact that Pawar takes care not to attack Joshi while targeting the alliance and Joshi leaves Pawar out on the rare occasions that he attacks the Congress. Sena-BJP functionaries also allege that Joshi prevented the Government advocate from cross-examining Pawar before the Srikrishna Commission.

By Sunday the trauma of the shock treatment had gripped the Sena ranks. Visiting ministers, the assembly Speaker and media persons were targeted by a 2,000-strong mob outside Thackeray's residence Matoshree. Come evening, Joshi returned from his weekend sojourn at a yoga spa appropriately called "Manashanti" and met Thackeray. Thirty six hours after the Saamna interview, Thackeray relented on one count: he let Joshi continue, even if on probation. But he held steadfast on the sanyas.

The Congress couldn't have asked for a better opening for the budget session. Chhagan Bhujbal, leader of the opposition, quipped: "It was nothing but a mediocre performance of the T. Balu Drama Company. He should understand that he has done enough nautanki. It doesn't draw applause each time." But applaud they did. Indeed, Pawar joined the fray by first challenging Thackeray's might -- "He can't pull Joshi down" -- and then by commending Joshi -- "He is a good chief minister".

So far, Thackeray hasn't risen to the bait. But then the Sena chief is known for his sense of timing. Which is why most Sena and BJP functionaries were at a loss to explain the shock treatment and the trauma that followed. For, only 15 days earlier Thackeray had stopped Joshi from resigning. So why the sudden explosion? The charitable views are: he wanted to assert himself, show he was in control and that he wanted to shock the alliance Government into action. And almost on cue, Thackeray stated on March 22: "We've had three years of promises, now let's see some action."

The uncharitable view -- apart from Bhujbal's "it is his whimsical style, typically Thackeray" -- was that this was one way to ensure the Government protects him from possible indictment by the Srikrishna Commission. Some even believe Thackeray wanted to anoint his son Udhav, some feel it is the rise of Joshi's son Unmesh, while others believe that Joshi's perceived closeness to Pawar tested Thackeray's patience. The truth lies somewhere betwixt.

Thackeray and the BJP leadership in Delhi are aware that Maharashtra plays a crucial role in their bid to retain power. The alliance simply can't afford non-performance, inefficiency and charges of corruption. Not that they can charge Joshi or his deputy Munde substantially with any of these. They have held together what is essentially one of the most inexperienced cabinets ever.

But the fact is that the duo has not delivered on any of the promises -- from water for all villages to jhunka bhakar schemes to free housing to higher employment -- that the alliance had loftily made in its vachannama (manifesto). A section of the BJP leadership feels that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Thackeray are perhaps acting in tandem. Says a senior RSS leader: "The clouds may have cleared but the storm could still come. At the end of the session you could still see some major changes. Clearly they feel that a clean up will be good for the health of the alliance."

But given the choice before the alliance leadership, it seems unlikely that there is much to choose from. What's worse, the purgation almost put the alliance in ICU. Their only hope is that the shock administered by Thackeray's remote control could just about resuscitate the alliance. May be, just about.

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