Mumbai: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is one of the closely watched politicians in this election especially after his open praise for the BJP.
Thackeray’s association with the BJP is rooted in history, dating back to the era of influential leaders like Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani, and Pramod Mahajan. This connection is significant, especially considering his recent statements expressing a natural affinity and “comfort” with the BJP.
However, this relationship with the BJP has been evolving over the years and showed his support towards Narendra Modi’s prime ministerial candidacy in 2014 but later criticised the party’s unfulfilled promises, even leading a “Modi-mukt Bharat” campaign in 2019. However, he has now seemingly aligned with the BJP, sharing the stage with PM Modi and campaigning for the party in the Assembly polls.
This shift is crucial, as MNS is contesting 137 seats this time with Thackeray’s son Amit making his electoral debut from the Mahim seat in Mumbai.
“I have never aligned towards Congress or any other parties, however since the beginning, I had developed relationships with the BJP. I find my comfort zone with the BJP,” he said.
Meanwhile, Thackeray has decided to contest the assembly election solo which has intensified the competition and raised concerns about a potential split in the vote share for the ruling Mahayuti coalition.
However, the BJP has announced support for a few of their candidates. In Mahim, the BJP has announced its support to Amit. In Shivadi, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar is the sole contender with the ruling coalition’s support.
The MNS has fielded candidates in 12 constituencies where Shiv Sena led by Eknath Shinde is in the fray. The party’s candidates are facing BJP in 10 constituencies.
Thackeray emphasised that he is fighting the assembly polls to showcase his party’s strength. ‘‘For the Vidhan Sabha (State Assembly) elections, we will focus on strengthening our party following which I had instructed all party workers to work for the upcoming assembly election,” said Raj.
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