The Shiv Sena, the ruling party in Maharashtra, has claimed that the state’s Chief Minister, Eknath Shinde, is the most popular leader in the state. This puts him several notches higher than the Deputy CM of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Devendra Fadnavis. The party cited an undated Voters Survey to back the claim. According to the survey, Shinde has been placed above Fadnavis, but below Prime Minister Narendra Modi in terms of popularity. The survey also reveals that Modi-Shinde is the dream team in Maharashtra, with a partnership that has resulted in many public welfare projects.
The survey named Shinde as the popular choice for the post of Chief Minister with 26.1% of the voters’ approval, while Fadnavis secured 23.2%, putting him in second place. The survey shocked the BJP and ruffled feathers in political circles. The ad also claimed that the Modi-Shinde partnership was getting huge affection from people as it has resulted in many public welfare projects. The Shiv Sena thanked the people of Maharashtra for their support. In the survey, 30.2% of voters rooted for the BJP, and 16.2% preferred Shiv Sena, with a total of 46.4% support for both parties.
The full-page ad, which appeared in several leading Marathi newspapers, comes just days after the Thane MP and son of the Chief Minister, Dr. Shrikant Shinde, threatened to quit and bickering over the cabinet expansion plans. The ad has created more than mere ripples in political circles, with many speculating whether Shinde is flexing his muscles vis-a-vis the aggressive Fadnavis and showing him his place.
The ad comes just ahead of the first anniversary of the swearing-in of the Shinde-Fadnavis government on June 30, 2022, after the Maha Vikas Aghadi government of Shiv Sena (UBT)-Congress-Nationalist Congress Party led by former CM Uddhav Thackeray was toppled. The ad features a large photo of Modi looking and grinning at Shinde, but the anticipated picture of Fadnavis is conspicuously missing from the ad. Although the Shiv Sena’s name symbol of Bow-and-Arrow figures at the top right, there is no reference to the party’s founder, the late Balasaheb Thackeray, to whom Shinde and his supporters regularly pay lip-service.
