Driving on the streets of Mumbai a day after Balasaheb Thackeray’s mammoth funeral makes you realise how contrasting 24 hours can be to this city. On Sunday, November 18, two million people came out on the streets to bid adieu to the ‘Tiger’ without a single incident of violence and today we are back to our regular traffic jams.

Sunday’s human sea on the streets of Mumbai indicated a lot. For political pundits, it’s a clear sign of who rules Mumbai even in 2012. The strong Marathi vote was out there, making all those who questioned their relevance in cosmopolitan Mumbai nervous all over again. Cadres of two warring political parties of nephews mingled with calm and allowed the ordinary Marathi manoos to pay their last respects.

Amid the Shiv Sainik’s calm, or their “dumbed down” version as some cynics would prefer to call it, everyone is asking one question: What next? Who will be Mumbai ka boss next? What’s the future?

Well, for firsts, Balasaheb’s deteriorating health must have made son Uddhav and nephew Raj think about the future question clearly. Let’s see the scenario in November 2012. Shiv Sena has just triumphed in Mumbai and Thane civic elections and looks increasingly confident of facing 2014.

Raj Thackeray’s MNS has softened its aggressive stance against the Sena and even got into alliances in local bodies. Like at the centre, the Congress-NCP government is facing heat in Maharashtra as well: scams (Adarsh, irrigation), law and order (Azad Maidan) and the continuous fighting between the Congress and NCP leaders. Chief minister Prithviraj Chavan continues to be challenged by his own party men, who often fly to New Delhi to complain about his lacklustre leadership.

The Ajit Pawar crisis is Chavan’s biggest headache. The NCP is riddled with scams and infighting, with leaders leaking stories (read scams) against each other to the media.

Many emotional Sainiks and some leaders have for long been proclaiming the need for Raj and Uddhav to come together to ensure the Marathi vote doesn’t split and benefit the Congress-NCP. Their voices may get louder in the coming weeks. But can it actually happen?

The political reality for the cousins in 2012 is very different from the one when they bitterly split six years ago. Feeling increasingly sidelined, Raj formed MNS in March 2006 and since then has established its base across the state with large following from Marathi youth. MNS has 13 MLAs in the state assembly and made good inroads in the state’s three biggest cities in the recent civic polls. In Mumbai, the party 28 has corporators out of BMC’s 227 seats, 29 of 152 in Pune, and 40 of 122 in Nasik.

Many traditional Sena voters are also moving to MNS, and even from the party’s bastions like Dadar in Mumbai.

Uddhav, on the other hand, won Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in a tie-up with RPI and BJP. Having slowly emerged from the shadows of his father, he now leads from the front. He is looked upon as a moderate face of Sena with a keen interest in environment and photography.

Even as the state government woos Sena by organising the meticulously planned state honour for Balasaheb, any closeness with the ‘Congresswallahs’ at this stage would be seen as ultimate betrayal by the average Sainik. Raj, who is also seen as less critical of NCP and close to Pawar, will be equally careful of his next steps.

Pictures of the two cousins and their wives united in grief at Shivaji Park are telling. But as time flows, both would realise that they need to align, yet maintain their identity. Both have large, emotional followers with distinct ideologies. Walking on the same road, and yet maintaining their individuality, would be the wisest thing for them at this stage.

A single political outfit will create a power struggle. Instead, respecting a two-party alliance with a common minimum programme would ensure safety of the Marathi vote and their expand base.

No doubt this is a watershed moment in Maharashtra politics. Will family ties triumph over political reality? Or will this calm lead to a more realistic political alignment? The countdown to 2014 has just begun.