The Losers, 2019

The 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election tells us that while constancy and fealty pay and that timing is everything

There’s a saying in Hindi: “Chaube gaye Chhabbe banane, rah gaye Dube”. It describes a person who tries to overreach himself, and ends up worse off than he was before. There are many winners in the Maharashtra saga, some who have got much more than they could possibly have hoped for or deserve. But it is the losers who need to worry.

Narayan Rane was a Shiv Sainik whom Balasaheb himself anointed Chief Minister: he adored “Saheb” but could not reconcile to the rise and rise of Uddhav. Rane was responsible for creating and strengthening the Sena in Konkan. When Uddhav