Test-tube son of soil

The Shiva Sena-BJP alliance, which lost badly in the parliamentary and Assembly elections in 2009, rarely bypasses an opportunity to take a dig at Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) and its violent sons-of-the-soil campaign. They suspect its chief Raj Thackeray of having a tacit understanding with the ruling Congress-NCP combine in the state. At an election rally for the Kalyan-Dombivli municipal corporation in Thane district over the weekend state BJP president Sudhir Mungantiwar described the MNS as a test tube baby of Maratha strongman Sharad Pawar. He, however, left it to the audience to conjecture the fate of this baby.