In BJP-Shiv Sena rift lies a possible opening for MNS

Two of the BJP-Sena mahayuti’s smaller allies signalled their readiness to explore new alignments.

If the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance snaps, it will open up the possibility of Raj Thackeray’s MNS tying up with the former. Bala Nandgaokar, considered Raj’s right-hand man, said the party is in fact open to forming an alliance with either party if it makes the approach, but other MNS leaders don’t expect such a move from the Shiv Sena, leaving the BJP as the likelier option.

Two of the BJP-Sena mahayuti’s smaller allies, the Raju Shetti-led Swabhimani Paksh and the Rashtriya Samaj Paksh of Mahadeo Jankar, too, signalled their readiness to explore new alignments, though unlike the MNS they did not show a preference for one major party over the other.

“So far, we have not received any offer from anybody (from Sena or BJP),” Nandgaokar told The Indian Express. “If we do receive any offer for a poll alliance, we are not averse to joining hands with them.”

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MNS leaders referred to the bitter war of words between the Thackeray cousins during the Lok Sabha elections and discounted the possibility any approach from Uddhav Thackeray’s party after that. One leader said the possibility of a BJP-led alliance cannot be ruled out as such an effort had been made during the Lok Sabha elections when senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari had met Raj Thackeray to “prevent division of Marathi votes”.

Asked about the possibility of a BJP-led alliance including Swabhimani Paksh and Rashtriya Samaj Paksh, Nandgaokar said, “We are not sure what is happening with the mahayuti. If such an alliance (BJP-led) comes into being, it will certainly be one to reckon with.”

He denied, however, that the MNS is waiting for the alliance to snap so that it can form a new one. “We are not waiting for their alliance to break up. We want to focus on the growth of our party across Maharashtra. So we won’t mind if no alliance emerges,” Nangaokar said. “Look at the BJP-Sena alliance. They claim that they have been together for 25 years. But after 25 years, they are not even able to strike a coordination nor are they in a position to contest the election on their own in all 288 seats.”

So, how many seats does the MNS plan to contest if it goes it alone? “We are ready with a list of 175. We will soon finalise 50 ot 55 more seats. In all, we will be in a position to contest 225 seats,” Nandgaokar said.

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Meanwhile, Raju Shetti and Mahadev Jankar both told The Indian Express their parties would contest jointly if the Shiv Sena and the BJP should fail to reach an understanding. They had given the two majors an ultimatum to decide their sharing arrangement by Monday evening.
“If one of these parties decides to form a new alliance, we may consider the possibility of joining it,” said Shetti. But Jankar added, “We can team up after the elections if no alliance is possible now.”

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More