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The 14th Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, spanning from 2019 to 2024, has been a period of significant political upheaval and dramatic shifts in power dynamics. While the initial years witnessed a coalition government between the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the Indian National Congress, the political landscape underwent a dramatic transformation in 2022 and 2023. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, skillfully orchestrated splits within both the Shiv Sena and the NCP, ultimately dismantling the ruling coalition and establishing a new political order in the state.
The first major fissure emerged in June-July 2022 when a faction of the Shiv Sena, led by Eknath Shinde, broke away from the party's founding leader, Uddhav Thackeray. This split was fueled by a combination of factors, including internal disputes over the allocation of cabinet portfolios and disagreements on the direction of the party's political alliance. The Shinde faction, with the support of the BJP, formed a new government, effectively ousting Thackeray and his faction from power. This event marked a major turning point in Maharashtra's political history, demonstrating the BJP's ability to exploit internal divisions within its rivals.
Further solidifying its dominance in the state, the BJP engineered another split in June-July 2023, this time within the NCP. A faction of the NCP, led by Ajit Pawar, who had been a key figure in the previous coalition government, joined forces with the BJP, causing a major shake-up in the opposition. This alliance, coupled with the earlier defection from the Shiv Sena, further strengthened the BJP's hold on power in Maharashtra. The political dynamics of the state were irrevocably altered, with the BJP emerging as the dominant force.