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| Ahead of Assembly polls, Raj Thackeray is BJP-Sena's main worry |
| Makarand Gadgil / Mumbai May 22, 2009, 01:00 IST |
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Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is a bugbear the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena alliance doesn’t know how to handle, especially ahead of the September-October Assembly elections in Maharashtra.
Out of the 12 seats it contested in the recent Lok Sabha elections, the MNS managed to damage to the prospects of BJP-Shiv Sena candidates on nine seats. And all these constituencies are part of the state’s highly urbanised belt of Mumbai-Thane-Pune and Nashik.
In fact, a closer look at the lead position of various parties in each Assembly segment shows that in the rest of Maharashtra the BJP-Shiv Sena combine is ahead of the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) alliance. While the BJP-Sena is leading in 105 Assembly segments, Congress-NCP is leading in 94.
After the drubbing it received in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena launched a frontal attack on Raj Thackeray, called him a traitor who was working against the interest of Maharashtrians as not a single Maharashtrian MP was elected from the metropolis.
Even Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray issued a statement saying he was snapping all his personal ties with his estranged nephew Raj.
However, the BJP feels targeting Raj will only increase sympathy towards him and lead to further consolidation of Marathi votes in urban centres. Already there is a feeling among a large section of Maharashtrians that Raj, despite putting up a good fight couldn’t win a single seat and this sympathy might just help him to consolidate Marathi votes further, said a senior BJP leader from the state.
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