14 July, 2005: Finally, what started as a storm ended in a whimper.

On Tuesday, July 12, ousted Shiv Sena leader and former chief minister of Maharashra Narayan Rane conceded defeat in his attempt to take the reins of the saffron party. Rane's efforts to become "the real Sena" fell flat on the floor of the House. Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar declared that Sena candidate Kadam is the leader of the opposition in the Maharashtra legislative assembly. The revolt of the former Sena stalwart ended in humilation, and Rane resigned as the leader of the opposition.

It's a pyrrhic victory for the Sena. It emerged victorious from the battle, but just barely. The coup de grace also exposed the Sena leadership to the perils of leaving positions of power open to leaders who may jump boat tomorrow.

While sacking Rane, the Sena had served him with a letter from Balasaheb Thackeray, removing him from the primary membership of the party. The party had not followed the propr procedure of sending show cause notices and calling a meeting. However, instead of resigning from the post of Leader of Opposition with his honour intact, Rane tried to swing things his favour, by using his consitutional position as the leader of the Shiv Sena Legislative Party to install a party whip of his choice and using that position to get Sainikis to his side.

The move was audacious no doubt, but Rane's moves failed to generate the desired the effect. Rane threatened that those who do not attend the SSLP meeting called by his "whip" will face disciplinary action.

The unexpected Rane move sparked a lot of heartburn in the Thackeray camp. Sena herded its together MLAs at a five-star hotel and transported them around in luxury coaches for siplay before the Speaker. Shiv Sena MLAs carted around like cattle? It must be such a humiliation for the cadre-driven Sena to take to methods usually associated with career politics.

Few MLAs attended the Rane-convened legislative party meeting on July 8, with Rane vowing to get them disqualified for disobeying the "party" whip. On the initial day of the Monsoon session of the Legislative Assembly itself, it was clear which way the wind was blowing - there were few supporters for the Rane coup. Ironically, Rane got more support from the treasury benches than his own party. The House resonated with shouts of "Narayan Rane aage badho, hum aapke saath he" (Narayan Rane, push ahead, we are with you!) - not from Sena or even his own party, but from NCP and Congress members! Which prompted many Sena and BJP members to wonder why The treasury suddenly took a liking for the Opposition. Narayan Rane moved a petition seeking disqualification of 23 Sena MLAs who did not attend his meeting, while Sena-BJP MLAs claimed that he was not their leader.

The day was also marked by high drama. The whole of South Mumbai was turned into a fortress, with the cops out in full strength to avoid any clash of Rane and Sena supporters who has massed outside. Despite prohibitory orders in force, thousands of Rane supporters made it to the Vidhan Sabha premises from Mumbai and his stronghold Konkan. Sena supporters too turned out in strength, and the threat of violence and rioting loomed large.

The tension outside the Assembly spilled into the the House too. The Speaker was ready with his verdict on the first day itself, but stopped short of pronouncing it for fear of igniting violence inside and outside the Assembly. By now, it was clear which way things were moving, with little support for Rane's antics.

On Tuesday, armed with letters from BJP and sena, Speaker Babasaheb Kupekar rejected Narayan Rane's claim to the Opposition leader's post. Rane's move to get Thackeray-followers disqualified fell flat, and he himself resigned as leader of the opposition. The game was up for the ambitious Rane.

Uddhav Thackeray celebrated the fall of Narayan Rane. Thackerays still reigned as the first family of the Shiva Sena. But all's not well that ends well.

The Rane revolt, a throwback to the Bhujbal revolt of the last decade, came as a rude shock to the Sena. Thackerays have been comfortable in the misbelief that the supremo's charisma will forever hold the party together. Meanwhile, the party failed to build strong, sustainable and trustworthy leadership levels. L'affaire Rane is a the culimination of such a thought process which disregarded leadership aspirations and proper intra-party systems.

Overnight, the Sena proved that it was just another political party, vulnerable to hoarse-trading and manipulations. The extent to which the Sena foundations were shaken can be gauged by their intensity of response and quick resort to legal and constituional experts. For an ideology-driven cadre-party like the Sena, nothing could be more humiliating than having to hide its MLAs in star hotel luxury to prevent poaching. For the Sena strongman who bluffed of the support of 22 MLAs, nothing could be more humilating than his claims shot down by the Assembly speaker. It is a lose-lose situation for both.

BY OUR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT

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