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Uddhav Thackeray, former Chief Minister of Maharashtra, who just lost the biggest prestige battle of his life, appeared shell-shocked after the stunning reverse. Speaking to reporters this evening after the Opposition alliance Maha Vikas Aghadi posted a result widely different from the outcome in the Lok Sabha election, he questioned how four months could bring about such a drastic difference.
"Cannot believe Maharashtra, which listened to me as head of family during COVID, will behave with me this way... How could they (the ruling alliance) win so many seats in just a matter of four months? Where did they light candles for such a result?" said the 64-year-old.
Claiming that the MVA rallies were better attended than that of the ruling alliance, he said, "People listened to us, not to Modi and Amit Shah. The people said they don't need to listen to them. Did they decide to vote without listening to them?" he said, then added in a sarcastic vein, "How can an empty chair turn into votes".
Mr Thackeray, though, brushed aside the key talking point -- one that had been repeatedly underscored by the winning combine -- has it now been proved "Who is the real Shiv Sena"? "For the last many years, we have not received a decision on the party name and election symbol," he said, firmly shunting the ball towards the courts, where the matter is pending.
The rebel faction of Mr Shinde, which pitched the electoral battle as a test of "Who is the real Shiv Sena" lost no time in announcing it as an ideological victory.
The BJP and its allies' victory came on the heels of the party's spectacular performance in Haryana amid what many mis-read as massive anti-incumbency against the Nayab Singh Saini government and expected a Congress victory.
Mr Thackeray, though, put a different spin on the matter.
"A few years ago, (BJP chief) JP Nadda had said there will only be one party. It seems that they are moving in the same direction -- one party one nation," he said. "I would tell people not to lose hope," he added.
The Sena UBT chief, though did not blame the Electronic Voting Machines. "Some people are saying that EVM is behind this victory. I say if people have accepted it then I have no problem,' he added.
Mr Thackeray's Sena (UBT) has won 20 of the 89 seats it contested, way below Eknath Shinde faction's 57 of 80. Mahayuthi -- the ruling alliance of Mr Shinde's Sena, Ajit Pawar's faction of the Nationalist Congress Party and the BJP -- are ahead on 236 of Maharashtra's 288 seats.
The massive reverses for the Maha Vikas Aghadi come barely six months after the alliance's sparkling performance in the Lok Sabha election, which many said, had made clear the voters' disapproval of the political tumult of the last two years -- split in Shiv Sena followed by the collapse of theUddhav Thackeray government, and the subsequent split in the Nationalist Congress Party of Sharad Pawar.