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Will Cong admit Smita to its fold?
TN Raghunatha | Mumbai
Thackeray bahu revolts, plans to quit Sena
The public posturing to the contrary by the Congress leaders notwithstanding, it is not so easy for Smita Thackeray, daughter-in-law of Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, to gain entry into the Congress, given that the Sonia Gandhi party would think twice before interfering in a matter that directly relates to the Thackeray household.
Smita has long aroused curiosity and interest in the State political circles and she continues to do so. She is the divorced wife of the Shiv Sena chief's second son Jaidev Thackeray, who severed his links with his father years ago and has been living separately since then. Having lived separately for several years, Smita and Jaidev had a legal divorce in 2004.
Smita used to live at Matoshri, the Bandra residence of the Sena chief, long after she had informally separated from her husband. Between 1995 and 1999 when the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance ruled the State, she was very close to the Sena chief and that it was through her that senior bureaucrats and police officers would seek appointments and meet Sr Thackeray. At that time when Uddhav and Raj did not have as much of a role to play as they had in the later years, Smita had become a parallel power centre in the saffron alliance Government.
However, with his rise and decline of cousin Raj in the Shiv Sena politics, Uddhav virtually showed the door to Smita. Smita has not forgotten the raw deal she has received from Uddhav during the last seven to eight years.
Informed Congress sources told The Pioneer on Saturday evening that Smita must have been banking heavily on the assurances given by a senior State Congress leader, who has nothing to do with the State and city party set-ups but had "connections" in the party's central leadership, when she said in her published interview that she had decided to join the Congress and that she would meet Sonia and Rahul Gandhi soon in this regard.
Though Congress sources were reluctant to identify the State Congress leader concerned, the impression that is gathering ground within the State political circles is that it's senior Congress leader and current Revenue Minister Narayan Rane, himself an erstwhile Shiv Sena leader, who has prodded Smita into coming out with an announcement that she has.
However, the Congress leadership - particularly the State leadership - has its own reasons not to give a go-ahead to Smita's entry into the party. "Admitting Smita to the Congress would mean opening a flank for attack from the Shiv Sena. With her being a political lightweight, we are not going to gain much by way of inducting her into the party. Why should we necessarily rub the Sena chief in the wrong way in the process?" a senior State Congress leader asked.
Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief Manikrao Thakre and his counterpart from Mumbai Kripashankar Singh seem to hold a similar view, party sources said.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, who has had best of personal relations with Sr Thackeray ever since he founded the Shiv Sena in 1966 despite having been opposed to the latter on a political level, faced a situation way back in 2004, when Jaidev Thackeray - the second son of Bal Thackeray -- tried hard to join the NCP - an effort that did not fructify.
Pawar explained subsequently in 2007 that he did not take Jaidev into his party, as he did not want to complicate matters for Sr Thackeray, at a time when the two cousins, Uddhav and Raj, were already slugging it out for their share of power within his household.
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