New Delhi, Nov. 28 -- The template for political immunity from prosecution was set a year earlier, in June 2022, when the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA (Maha Vikas Aghadi) government in Maharashtra was toppled after a dramatic coup staged by Eknath Shinde, a close aide of the Shiv Sena chieftain. An energetic political go-getter, seen sporting a flaming red tilak on his forehead and a well-trimmed beard, the short-statured Shinde, a senior minister in the MVA government, was eyeing the chief minister's chair while Uddhav Thackeray was convalescing in hospital after spinal surgery in December 2021.

"I am doing all the hard work for the party and the government, but the credit is going entirely to Uddhav ji and now to his son Aaditya. Why shoul...