A name is a name is a name, goes the cliché. In political circles, however, the right surname is what ultimately rings in absolute power.
Apparently a lot, if the context is Maharashtra politics. It can be your ticket to the big league
MUMBAI: A name is a name is a name, goes the cliché. In political circles, however, the right surname is what ultimately rings in absolute power. But often even the right surname, in a matter of blink, can be overshadowed by a more 'righter' surname.
Take Raj Thackeray for instance. In 1992 when the young and fiery Raj held his first public meeting at Nagpur, pundits were sure he would be heir
to the senior Thackeray. But time proved all of them wrong "After all, for any father, a son would be dearer than a nephew," said a long-time confidant of Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray.
Thackeray senior's love for his son cost him a nephew and a chunk of the party, as Raj Thackeray split the Shiv Sena and formed his own party, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. But Thackeray senior's good friend and political opponent, Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar, has managed till now to walk the tight rope between daughter and nephew.
While Supriya Sule has been given the task of interacting with people at the grassroots level, thereby building legitimacy as a future heir, Ajit Pawar is a cabinet minister for water resources in the Maharashtra government, giving him access to Pawar senior's legendary power network.
Sule is cautious not to cross the line of control. So much so that she once gave an interview to this writer inside her car, outside the NCP office, saying 'This is a vehicle which I own. I don't want to go inside the NCP and occupy somebody else's cabin. It looks bad. After all, I am just a primary member of the party.'
Quiz her about the political legacy that she will carry in the future, she is at her diplomatic best. "As a daughter I have the legal right over my father's property (house). His political heir will have to be an individual who can uphold his ideological vision."
NCP political managers, however, admit that Sule will be the 'true inheritor' of Pawar's legacy. "With half a dozen second rung NCP leaders racing for the chief ministerial post, Supriya will emerge as the natural leader to keep the organisation intact a la Gandhi," a senior leader told DNA.
In electoral politics, Maharashtra has always been in the forefront in adhering to the processes — mindlessly convoluted at times — that intersect to make up a democracy. Yet, the economic and politics are so closely inter-linked that nobody allows an outsider (party worker) to take the reins of his/her constituency.
Congress leader and former Sena strongman Narayan Rane is a case in point. Though he has a good 20 years of active political life left, he has already started grooming his sons — Nitesh and Nilesh — for the big stage. "Every social or cultural event has a hoarding promoting the two sons," said a Congress leader.
His former colleague and current bete noire Uddhav Thackeray has done one better. A political greenhorn,
Uddhav has already started grooming his 17-year-old son Aditya for the intricate world of politics. "We were all
really surprised when we saw Aditya in the recent rally to protest the repeal of Ulcra," said a senior Sena leader, who's reconciled to the fact that bar the Thackerays, everyone else will be "number two to number infinity".
It's not just the Pawars and Thackerays. Union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde's daughter Pranati is grooming herself to hold her father's fort in Sholapur. At Latur, chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has given enough hints that elder son Amit will be his political successor. Similarly, public works department minister Chhagan Bhujbal has both, son (Pankaj) and nephew (Samir) handling his turf at Nashik and Mumbai.
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