Win, lose, or draw straws: Maharashtra politics may see a silent upheaval

While arithmetic political stability is a reality, politics in Maharashtra is likely to see a silent upheaval

Many in Maharashtra believe that Sharad Pawar has gotten his just deserts.

Among them is Shalini ‘Shalinitai’ Patil (91), the widow of former Maharashtra chief minister (CM) Vasantdada Patil. Her grouse against Pawar, now leader of a faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the party he founded, dates back to 1978.

In the Assembly polls held in February 1978, no party got a majority, and two factions of the Congress — one led by Patil (69 seats) and another by the Congress I (65 seats) — came together to form a government. As the government flailed amid daily bickering,