Are Ajit and Uddhav fighting similar battles with their alliance partners?

Mumbai, Agencies: The Maha Yuti aims to weaken the Aghadi in several seats by informally asking Ajit Pawar to fight there independently while the UBT Sena’s insistence that the Aghadi project a chief ministerial candidate ahead of the elections has not gone down well with the Congress and Sharad Pawar’s NCP. Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena, leaders of rival factions in Maharashtra, are grappling with similar challenges as they prepare for the state’s highly contentious upcoming assembly elections. Maharashtra, a crucial swing state, finds itself in disarray, with seat allocations and alliance lineups remaining uncertain.

It remains to be seen who will be in or out of an alliance for strategic or tactical reasons — a question that will only become clearer in the months ahead — where every move will have hidden implications and nothing can be taken at face value.Notably, speculation has persisted for quite some time now, suggesting that Ajit Pawar’s NCP may be excluded from the ruling Maha Yuti alliance, allowing the dominant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and chief minister Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena faction to divide seats among themselves, potentially leaving Ajit Pawar to fend for himself

. This might be a calculated strategy, by remaining out Ajit Pawar may be able to tap into the secular vote base of the Maha Vikas Aghadi, which comprises the Congress, Sharad Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and Thackeray’s Shiv Sena faction.Recently, Ajit Pawar attacked those in the Shinde Sena and the BJP, who had made objectionable statements against Leader of Opposition (LoP) Rahul Gandhi.