Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, who supported the BJP and Shinde in the Lok Sabha elections, has changed his tune in just four months. He had supported in the Lok Sabha elections, but now in the Assembly elections, the political tension between the BJP and Shinde has increased from Mumbai to Thane. Raj Thackeray wants to revive his political fortunes by fielding his candidates in 25 of the 36 seats in the Mumbai belt. In such a situation, they are playing the game of aggressive Hindutva, which has become a cause of concern for the BJP-led Mahayuti alliance.
Raj Thackeray is openly betting on the Maharashtra Assembly elections and is busy laying the political board. MNS has fielded candidates for around 100 seats, of which 25 have contested in seats from the Mumbai region. Although the BJP is talking about supporting him in the Mahim seat, due to the failure to remove Shinde’s candidate, both the BJP and Shinde have come closer to Raj Thackeray’s target. Among the seats in the Mumbai area where Raj Thackeray has fielded candidates, there is competition from the BJP on 12 seats and Shiv Sena candidate from the Eknath Shinde faction on 10 seats. Raj Thackeray has also fielded candidates against seven senior BJP leaders.
Candidates filed against Shinde group
Raj Thackeray has fielded candidates against Shinde group candidate, in which Sandeep Deshpande against Milind Deora in Worli seat, Amit Thackeray against Sada Sarvankar in Mahim, Pradeep Waghmare against Mangesh Kudalkar in Kurla, Mahendra Bhanushali against Dilip Lande in Chandivali, Mauli Thorway against Tukaram Kathe in Chembur, Bhaskar Parab against Sanjay Nirupam in Dindoshi, Bhalchandra Ambure against Manisha Vaykar in Jogeshwari East, Vishwajit Dolam against Suvarna Karanje in Vikhroli, Jagdish Khandekar against Suresh Patil in Mankhurd Shivaji Nagar seat, and the dam of Nayan launched against Prakash Survesh in Magathane.
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MNS fielded against BJP
At the same time, Raj Thackeray has fielded his MNS leaders against BJP candidate, Snehal Jadhav against BJP’s Kalidas Kolambkar in Wadala seat, Juili Shende against Parag Alwani in Vile Parle and Sandesh Desai in Versova. Virendra Jadav against Vidya Thakur in Goregaon, Mahesh Farkase against Atul Bhatkhalkar in Kandivali East, Dinesh Salvi against Yogesh Sagar in Charkop, Kunal Menkar against Sanjay Upadhyay in Borivali, Yerunkar against Manisha Choudhary in Dahisar, Ram Kadam in Ghatkopar West. filed against him and Sandeep Kulathe has been filed against Parag Shah in Ghatkopar East seat. Similarly, in Kalina, MNS’s Sandeep Hutagi is trying his luck against RPI’s Amarjit Singh and in Bandra (East), MNS’s Trupti Sawant is trying his luck against NCP’s Zeeshan Siddiqui.
votes can be split
Political analysts say the way the MNS has fielded candidates for the Mumbai seats against Shinde’s BJP and Shiv Sena, Shinde may face a bigger blow. Shiv Sena has not fielded any candidate in Sewri, but Raj Thackeray is contesting from 110 seats, including Worli, Mahim, Magathen, Kurla, Chandivali, Bhandup and Vikhroli. Apart from this, Raj Thackeray has fielded a candidate in Thane area and has directly challenged Shinde in his stronghold. Instead of favoring Shinde, who is angry with Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray will also have an option. Both Eknath Shinde and Raj Thackeray are exaggerating their Hindutva and Marathi Manus credentials. In such a situation, the vote may be divided.
Shiv Sena split into two factions
In Maharashtra, Shiv Sena has split into two factions, one of which is headed by Uddhav Thackeray and the other by Eknath Shinde. Shiv Sena voters were also divided into two parts in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections. Shinde could not make much political gains in the Mumbai area, but Shinde has managed to maintain his political dominance in the Konkan belt. This time, due to the fielding of Raj Thackeray’s candidate, there is a possibility of Sena votes being divided among the three parties.
Plan to spoil the political game
Raj Thackeray has taken a soft stance on the BJP, but seems aggressive on Eknath Shinde. This shows how Raj Thackeray has planned to ruin Shinde’s political game in the assembly elections. However, they have also fielded candidates against the BJP. The Mahavikas Aghadi candidate can benefit from it. In such a situation, questions are being raised whether any political rivalry is brewing between Raj Thackeray and Uddhav Thackeray. Due to this, he has made the contest interesting by fielding candidates against Shinde and BJP.
