Time for Uddhav-KCR bonhomie

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray (right) Telangana CM K Chandrashekar Rao

With the BJP-Shiv Sena tussle intensifying further, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has decided to join forces with his Telangana counterpart K Chandrashekar Rao (KCR) and other like-minded parties to fight the BJP-led central government. Thackeray spoke with Rao over the phone, and invited him to Mumbai for discussing their common agenda, on February 20.

Rao, who has remained passive against the BJP until recently, has suddenly swung into action making allegations against the Narendra Modi-led government. He has said the non-BJP states should insulate themselves from the Centre's policies that harm the country's federal structure.

A couple of months ago, West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee had initiated a similar effort. But, since she had reservations over the Congress being part of the envisaged anti-BJP front, the concept remained only a point of debate. Some influential parties including the NCP did not endorse her Congress-mukta Opposition front, but she hasn't changed her stand.

Last week, Banerjee liked Rao's idea, but not without saying that the Congress can go its own way because it does not share good relations with any regional party in the country. She has been in touch with her Tamil Nadu counterpart M K Stalin as well for the prospective Opposition formation.

However, political circles see both Rao and Banerjee as competitors, because both have been harbouring the ambition of becoming the PM in a coalition government. From Maharashtra, some Sena leaders have projected Thackeray as a potential PM candidate.

Politics in Maharashtra has been volatile ever since Thackeray entered into a coalition with the NCP and the Congress to topple the single largest party, the BJP, in 2019. Currently, the frenemies are exchanging blows over multiple issues, mainly on the action taken against the Shiv Sena and other leaders by the central law enforcement agencies.