Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena said this evening that Shiv Sena rejected its overtures for tie-up for the civic elections in Mumbai.
There was speculation about possible alliance between the estranged Thackeray cousins who parted ways over ten years ago after Shiv Sena's talks for alliance with BJP fell through.
MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar claimed this evening that Raj Thackeray made seven calls to his cousin and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray between January 22 and today, but the latter did not answer the calls or return them.
"I personally visited Uddhav Thackeray's residence yesterday with a message from Raj that our party is keen on alliance...There was no positive response to our proposal.
"We also said that MNS will be a junior partner of Shiv Sena in the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai. We proposed that MNS would contest the seats where we had won (last time) and rest can be contested by Shiv Sena. But there was no positive response," said Nandgaonkar.
"The alliance, if happens, can easily stop BJP from becoming the single largest party in MCGM," he said.
Sena leaders indicated that if the alliance was to happen, the party would seek all the seats in Dadar area where MNS had done very well last time, he said.
A Sena leader had said earlier in the day that Uddhav Thackeray had made it clear that seat-sharing or tactical alliance with any party was now out of question, though "if anybody wants to support us, we will consider it sympathetically".
Nandgaonkar could not meet Uddhav, but handed over a letter containing the party's proposal.
Five years ago, riding on Raj's charisma and anti-north
Indians agenda, MNS bagged 28 seats in Mumbai corporation.
In Nashik, it cornered 40 seats and stormed to power.
Party insiders say that majority of its corporators across cities, as well as former MLAs, have switched sides now, either to Sena or BJP.
"Prior to the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Raj supported the candidature of Narendra Modi for Prime Ministership. If he wanted Modi to be PM, why did he field candidates against the Sena-BJP then," political observers noted, saying that he was facing a crisis of credibility.
MNS's detractors also alleged that it dropped mid-way several agitations it launched, including the ones against toll levy and Pakistani artistes.
In the 2014 state polls, MNS's strength in the Legislative Assembly nosedived from 13 to one.
However, there has been no course correction and workers and leaders who stayed back were left to their fates, party sources said.
Despite getting power in Nashik and a good number of corporators in other cities, the party has not been able to achieve much, observers say.
In the municipal council and nagar panchayat polls held recently, MNS could bag only seven seats against 61 it secured five years ago.
Refuting the negative perceptions, MNS vice president Vageesh Saraswat said his party will increase its tally in the urban civic bodies and Raj Thackeray is a charismatic leader who inspires Marathi youth.
BJP leader Madhav Bhandari said Raj Thackeray's style of functioning does not create confidence in people's mind, and there was no chance of revival for the party.
Raj has not been able to fulfil the expectations he created when he made a splash on the state's political scene after breaking away from Shiv Sena, Bhandari said.
Congress leader Ratnakar Mahajan said he did not see any possibility of MNS reviving by its espousal of "parochial and regional politics.
