We need to take a step back and take an overview of our state politics and leaders.
I was a huge admirer of balasaheb thackeray and was quite close to him. I used to meet him quite frequently , every year at the celebration of , what we called ,his punarjanmadiwas ( the day he had his by pass surgery), and othereise at matoshree. I used to be amazed at the sway he held over the masses without stepping out of his house for so many years. ( i dont know of any other leader who could do that year after year).
I have seen udhhav as a reluctant politician, who grew tremendously as an astute politician and managed ,quite successfully ,to fill the huge shoes of balasaheb and steer shiv sena successfully to victory in elections after elections ,in spite of desertions of many stalwarts.
I have known raj for many years and used to regularly have the most delicious breakfast at his house when i was helping him in preparing the photobiography of balasheb .i still think that after modi ,he is one of the best contemporary orators i have heard.
I have seen aditya since he was a young boy ( he used to love my red toyota high lux surf car and always used to say he wanted a car like that ) i have seen him grow extremly well ,through his university days and now plunging into active pilitics at state level. He is young, ,intellegent ,well spoken and should do well .
As a well wisher , i sincerely feel that shiv sena shouldnt straightaway catapult him into the cm s chair .( thats the same mistake sonia gandhi has made with rahul .putting him straight on top without letting him learn the ropes ). Aditya should be given a smaller ministry ,so he learns how to handle the opposition ,the politics and power games within his own party and coalition parties ,the tight rope walk with the beurocracy which is quite a task, and then with that experience in hand ,get into bigger things.
I worked very closely with shri pruthviraj chauhan when he was a cm. Used to have meetings with him regularly at varsha. He is an extremely intelligent and well educated politician. A submarine expert from the u s etc. Extremely hard working ( would work till 2 am every night ),and a very pleasant personality. Half his tome went in warding off effirts to dislodge him by his own party leaders.
Shri sushilkumar shinde ,i have known for many years and know that his life story is what legends are made of. Rising from nothing to hold some of the highest posts in the country ,with sheer determination and hard work . Extremely pleasant and with amazing organisational skills. ( he came for one of my plays and said he had also done lead roles in marathi plays, in his younger days.)
Suddenly the media is projecting sharad pawar as a larger than life political leader in maharashtra. And we need to apply a bit of logic here .
He has been in state and national politics for nearly 50 years. He started his ncp ,because he refused to accept Sonia gandhi ,a foreigner according to him at that time ,as a leader .( Thats the NATIONALISTIC in the N of ncp ),but soon enough he ate a humble pie and worked under her and her party at national and state levels.
As far as maharashtra goes ,he has been a multi time chief minister and headed other ministiries for nearly forty years.
In 1980 when bjp had some 10 or 15 seats ,his party had 55 seats. Today when bjp has 105 seats ,ncp has managed just one extra seat at 56 .
One seat extra after 40 years. That doesnt speak well of any giant state leadership.
So lets think logically and not get swayed by media hypes.
My only worry is that even if bjp and shiv sena finally form the government, next five years are going to be more acrimonious that the last five years.
And thats worrisome for our maharashtra.
