MUMBAI: With the reunion buzz growing louder and local body elections around the corner, local units of the political parties led by Uddhav and Raj Thackeray are already forging alliances. In a pivotal move, on Friday, the Shiv Sena (UBT) and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Uddhav and Raj, respectively, decided to contest the elections to the BEST employee credit society election together. It will be the first-ever election, at any level, contested by the two parties as an alliance.
In another show of unity, the Sena (UBT) and MNS will conduct a joint march to highlight civic and law-and-order issues in Nashik city and district, ahead of local body polls.
These two decisions are seen as first steps towards a broader political alliance taking shape between the Thackeray cousins. In a dramatic turn, the two leaders set aside their differences and reconciled on July 5, ending two decades of estrangement. Then, on July 27, Raj visited Uddhav at his Matoshree residence to greet him on his birthday. These moves have convinced party workers that a formal alliance between the Sena (UBT) and MNS is on the cards for the upcoming local body polls, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.
Workers from both parties, which suffered serious setbacks in the last assembly elections, are now excited about contesting the local polls together, and have begun to take the initiative to work together at the grassroots level.
This was evident on Friday, when MNS Mumbai president Sandeep Deshpande announced a seat-sharing arrangement for the BEST employee credit society elections, on August 18. While the Sena (UBT) will contest 18 of the 21 seats, the MNS will contest two and the BEST SC/ST Employees Welfare Association will contest one. If the alliance wins, the MNS will get one more post, a nominated director. “The MNS and Sena (UBT) will contest these elections in alliance and we have accepted the seat-sharing arrangement,” said Deshpande.
Sena (UBT) trade union leader Suhas Samant said, “The reunion of the Thackeray cousins has created a ray of hope in the minds of the Marathi people, and now this alliance for the BEST employee credit society, which is worth over ₹1,000 crore, will the lay foundation for a political alliance in civic body elections.”
Although the ruling Mahayuti alliance is pitted against the BEST Kamgar Sena, a Sena (UBT) union, now with the support of the MNS, they will retain the power in credit society, he declared.
In Nashik, local leaders and workers of both parties announced a joint march on Friday, pledging to highlight several issues in Nashik city and district. Over 400 people from both parties were present at the meeting. To prepare for the march, both parties will hold joint meetings at various levels in the city and district, across the next 15 days. The date of the march is yet to be fixed.
“The situation in Nashik city and district is alarming. The crime graph is rising, with around 30 murders in the last six months. Narcotic drugs are being sold openly near colleges, corrupting the youth. People are also suffering due to the bad condition of roads, problems relating to water and other civic issues. Ahead of the Kumbh, Nashik has been discredited due to various scams. So to raise awareness on these issues, the Sena (UBT) and MNS have decided to carry out joint marches,” local leader Datta Gaikwad.
MNS leader Dinkar Patil said, “This is an alliance of two parties to raise people’s issues. As far as a political alliance for the civic elections is concerned, both brothers will decide on this and we will accept the decision.”
Why these polls are important
The BEST employee credit society is important not only due to its corpus of ₹1,000 crore, it also directly impacts the welfare of its members as it offers them loans and welfare schemes. Over 15,000 members of the society and their family members constitute around 60,000 voters for the upcoming credit society elections, a test run for the crucial BMC polls, for the MNS and Sena (UBT).
If the MNS-Sena (UBT) alliance wins these polls, despite being pitted against the Mahayuti alliance, it will boost the morale of party workers from both parties. This will likely turn public perception in their favour ahead of the BMC elections.