According to sources, BJP has proposed to MNS that Amit Thackeray, son of Raj Thackeray, contest the Lok Sabha election from Mumbai South and fight against UBT Sena’s Arvind Sawant. However, MNS wants its leader Bala Nandgaonkar to contest this seat.
The meeting of MNS president with Union home minister Amit Shah on Tuesday comes after ‘reports from the ground’ that there is likely to be a keen contest in 47 out of 48 Lok sabha seats in Maharashtra.
MNS has been keen on contesting 18 Lok Sabha seats and according to sources, BJP felt that the move could be detrimental for it in the parliamentary polls, which is why BJP is keen that MNS joins its coalition.
Even though the numbers of Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena and NCP – Sharad Chandra Pawar have depleted due to split and the two parties lost their party name and symbol, several internal surveys by BJP have pointed out that there is a tough contest in the state because of the alliance Congress-UBT Sena-NCP-Sharad Pawar alliance. That is where the MNS could possibly be of help as it has pockets of influence in the Mumbai Metropolitan region as well as the Nashik region.
A month ago, MNS leaders said that Raj Thackeray had held a meeting of his top leaders where he disclosed that there were “feelers” on what it would take for MNS to join the BJP-led alliance. “It was not an offer but it was kind of a feeler, we believe that if the Mumbai South seat and or Nashik seat is given to us, then it would be good,” said one MNS leader who was present in the meeting.According to him, Raj Thackeray was taking the views of his party leaders on the future course of action if there was a “firm offer”, adding that several leaders said the party should contest alone while others were keen on joining an alliance with BJP.Later, Nandgaonkar, while speaking to media persons after meeting Raj Thackeray, said that talks were “satisfactory” and the party would take a call within two to four days.
