Two years are over, many more to go?

Shiv Sena, Congress and NCP heads along with their MLAs take the pledge of staying with the alliance, at Hotel Grand Hyatt, on November 25, 2019. Pic/Ashish Rane

Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led three-party government completed two years in office on Sunday. Congratulations, Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) for the feat that was achieved against the deadlines given very often for pulling down the state government. One more forecast has come from Union minister Narayan Rane, who has given until March for the collapse of the MVA reign. Only time will tell about his predictions. Hope floats in the BJP camp because of the activities that are akin to ‘yet another' attempt of putting the Sena-led government into a pressure cooker. Good thing for the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress is that, so far, they have managed to keep the lid of the cooker intact despite the safety valves being under threat. Unlike politicos, we will stay away from predicting what it all will boil down to and when, why and how.

As it becomes as old as the novel Coronavirus pandemic while being constantly questioned over its stability, the MVA government has much to do on the economic, agriculture (in addition to the farm loan waiver), social, education, infrastructure, public health (other than COVID-19) fronts, etc. Public expectations never end, but the governments have to work on them in the best possible convincing manner. One of the concerns is about the infra projects that are delayed, stalled or moving at a slow pace. If the state cannot take up new infrastructure projects for want of funds, its priority should be to speed up the delayed/stalled projects. It is common knowledge that delay increases project cost, burdens the tax payers and denies the public the right to service. Mumbai has been looking at the MVA government with a big concern when it comes to the delayed/stalled projects. The Sena and the BJP are expected to make an agenda out of the project-related topics while campaigning in the forthcoming BMC polls.

As it is confident of running the government for a full five-year term till 2024, and for years thereafter, it's high time that the MVA stopped blaming the Centre for anything and everything that it finds difficult to get going with. Being seasoned politicians, the MVA leaders understand that the formation they installed two winters ago was bound to take a bumpy road. They were aware of the risks in keeping the BJP away from power. Now it's their job to deliver the days that are better than what the BJP-Sena had promised together in the 2019 Assembly and Lok Sabha polls. The MVA cannot avoid a struggle for finding its way to the destination which may be uncertain as many hold the key to their journey together.

So far, the MVA's performance can well be assessed on a political parameter. It has been able to keep the BJP away for so long even while the neighbouring states saw governments change within months of coming to power. The MVA is called a pioneer in the coming together of anti-Centre forces, one of them being the BJP's pre-poll ally. Thackeray jumped up the ladder very quickly with prospects of becoming the next big thing in national politics even as his minister son Aaditya assumed a decisive role in the Sena and the MVA. Sharad Pawar propelled into prominence yet again as a master strategist. Sena leader Sanjay Raut left many in his and other parties behind while establishing himself as one of the power centres. Two years after sharing power with the BJP for less than 100 hours, deputy CM Ajit Pawar continues to work under his uncle's shadow. He started speaking against the BJP the day the agencies struck him.
In two years of its devastating existence, the pandemic has caught us unawares many times, mainly because of the scant respect we have been giving to the COVID-appropriate behaviour. The pandemic has hit us hard. And while normalcy has been returning, slowly, the new Coronavirus variant, Omicron, has put the MVA government on its toes, yet again.

Dharmendra Jore is political editor, mid-day. He tweets @dharmendrajore

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