Uddhav to sound poll bugle with convention, rally in Nashik on Jan 23

The Shiv Sena (UBT), headed by former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, will hold a "mahashibir" and a public rally here on January 23, 2024, the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said on Sunday.

Uddhav Thackeray will participate in both the events, Raut told reporters.

The former CM is expected to sound the poll bugle for the next year's Lok Sabha elections with the convention and rally.

"Uddhav Thackeray will hold a mahashibir and address a public meeting in Nashik on January 23," Raut said.

All the party leaders will arrive in Nashik on Monday to work out details for hosting the two events, the Rajya Sabha member said.

The (then undivided) Shiv Sena contested the Nashik Lok Sabha election in alliance with the BJP and won the seat in 2014 and 2019. Later, two-time MP Hemant Godse switched over to the Shiv Sena camp led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

In June 2022, Shinde and 40 other MLAs revolted against the Shiv Sena leadership, leading to a split in the party and collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government.

Shinde then joined hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form government in the state.

In 2019, the undivided Shiv Sena was part of the BJP-led NDA alliance.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led party is now part of the MVA which includes the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party.

Raut on Friday said his party will contest 23 of the 48 Lok Sabha seats in Maharashtra.

The Rajya Sabha member had said he, along with Sena (UBT) leaders Uddhav Thackeray and Aaditya Thackeray, held talks with Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi as well as AICC general secretary K C Venugopal before the meeting of the opposition bloc INDIA in the national capital some days back.