Bal Thackeray

Mumbai, Oct. 5: Five months ago, he was up and about, having addressed over 40 rallies for the Lok Sabha elections.

A reported disorder in the food-pipe ? diagnosed after an endoscopy ? and ?acidity? have grounded the Shiv Sena supremo, Bal Thackeray. He will address just one meeting in what is a make-or-mar election for him. In his autumn, Sena and BJP supporters felt the 79-year-old Thackeray has let them down for no convincing reason.

One question that is doing the rounds is whether there is something more than the ?illness? that made him withdraw from campaigning. ?He was half-broken physically when Matoshri (his wife) passed away in 1996. When his doctor of many years, Nitu Mandke, died a year ago, Balasaheb was shattered,? said Shesh Narayan Tripati, a reporter working for the Sena?s Hindi mouthpiece, Samna.

The other, more important reason, was the incipient power struggle in his household. The last has not been heard on the Thackeray soap opera. Its dramatis personae were his son and heir apparent, Uddhav, and his ?ambitious? nephew Raj.

Sena watchers believe that the behind-the-scenes ?movements? of Balasaheb?s daughter-in-law, Smita, could not be ignored. ?Family retainers? Manohar Joshi and Narayan Rane had indicated they were no longer ready to be just Balasaheb?s ?working hands?.

The buzz is that Rane, a former chief minister and the party?s sheet anchor in its Konkan stronghold, had threatened to quit if Uddhav was projected as chief minister.

Finally, there was Subhash Desai, the general secretary and candidate from Goregaon, who was described as the proverbial ?dark horse? thanks solely to being a long-time confidant of Thackeray senior and junior.

?Both (Uddhav and Raj) are doing equally well, though by virtue of being the working president, Uddhav is higher in the pecking order,? said Kiran Wadvikar, the secretary of the Sena?s media cell.

However, Wadvikar refused to call him the party?s ?public face?, saying: ?Everybody is a face in his own right.?

Rane?s alleged threat apart, BJP sources said the main reason why Uddhav was not formally anointed as a prospective chief minister was his ?lack of charisma and a sense of authority?.

Most opinion polls placed Raj way ahead of him. ?Uddhav is laid-back, the sort who would want a position without sweating it out. That has not gone down well with the Sena cadre. Dynasty is okay with the Congress but not the Sena,? a party source said.

In practical terms, Thackeray?s staying away from campaigning meant two disadvantages: one, no joint rallies with the BJP would be staged because former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and former deputy Prime Minister .K. Advani could not be expected to share a platform with a neophyte like Uddhav.

To cut its losses, the alliance persuaded the Sena supremo to make one public appearance with Vajpayee in Mumbai?s Shivaji Park on October 10.

Second, Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Nirupam admitted: ?Our campaign in the rural areas has suffered. If Balasaheb went, he would have made a direct appeal to the village voters.?