'This is What Happened': With a Sketch of Uddhav's 'Bloodied Back', Sanjay Raut's Quip on Maha Crisis

The political turmoil in Maharashtra is ongoing and so are the snipes leaders are hurling out at each other. Uddhav Thackeray’s man Friday Sanjay Raut, after the leader’s resignation as chief minister, on Thursday shared a caricature on Twitter, supposedly depicting Thackeray with slashes on his back.

Uddhav had earlier said he had been backstabbed by his own, and Raut reiterated the same on Thursday. The 61-year-old leader’s innings as chief minister came to an abrupt end on Wednesday after Eknath Shinde, a senior Shiv Sena leader, rebelled against him and a majority of Sena MLAs joined the rebel camp.

Despite earnest appeals and other measures to bring the party MLAs ‘back home’, Uddhav failed and finally had to let go of the top post. Maharashtra governor Bhagat Singh Koshiyari accepted his resignation earlier.

Raut shared an illustration of a man in a white kurta, representing Uddhav, in his tweet today. The kurta, however, is torn at the back, with three long claw marks and blood dripping, a clear allusion to how the rebel MLAs led by Eknath Shinde ‘backstabbed the former Chief Minister and pulled a fast one on him with the BJP’s direct support’.

Uddhav had moved back to Matoshree – his family home – from his official residence Varsha after delivering a Facebook live address shortly after the rebel MLAs left for Gujarat’s Surat and then surfaced at a five-star holed in BJP-ruled Assam last week. He said he did not have any interest in the post if his own MLAs did not want him.

While Uddhav’s leadership during the worst phases of the coronavirus pandemic came in for praise, a section of Shiv Sena leaders complained that he was inaccessible as party president and CM.

Several Sena leaders were also uncomfortable with the party’s alliance with arch-foes Congress and NCP, which eventually proved to be the alliance’s undoing.

The rebellion within the party fold, which many say was brewing since long, finally came to the fore after Shinde openly raised a banner of revolt with many party MLAs siding with him. The rebellion set off hectic political activities with Thackeray last week quitting his official residence and finally resigning from the post, a day before the scheduled floor test.

However, he has now made it clear that although he has vacated the chief minister’s chair, he will now be sitting at the Shiv Sena Bhavan, the party’s headquarters, to meet the party leaders and workers.

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