Mumbai: As the political battle between the two warring factions of the Sena reaches fever pitch, backchannel talks between the Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and Team Uddhav has led to speculation that the two parties may join forces, a move that will give the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena faction a boost, and expand its voter base, in the upcoming Andheri east by-election next month as well as the forthcoming local body polls.
“We are looking at options and Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is interested in exploring them. We would welcome efforts to consolidate the votes against the parties that working against the interest of the people,” said Shiv Sena spokesperson and south Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant.
However, a senior party leader from Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) who is part of the informal talks with Prakash Ambedkar’s party said that Thackeray was open to a tie-up with VBA – whether formal or not, remains to be seen – as long as it did not affect the arrangement that he has with his Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) allies, Congress and Nationalist Congress Party.
“It is a fact that our traditional support base could get affected as we fight it out with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and the Eknath Shinde-led [Sena] faction. A significant portion of our traditional Hindutva voter base could switch sides [to Shinde and BJP]. As such, we need to add new sections to our base. The VBA can be a good option,” the leader, who did not wish to be named, said.
“There is a possibility of a Thackeray-Ambedkar meeting in the coming days,” he added.
On his part, Ambedkar said that he was keen on joining hands with either the Thackeray-led Sena or the Congress, but not the MVA, for the local body polls expected to take place either later this year or early next year. “I have offered an alliance proposal to Shiv Sena but have yet to get any response from the party. I have also approached Congress. The idea is to collaborate for the upcoming local body elections,” he said.
Ambedkar, who is the grandson of Dr B R Ambedkar, formed the VBA to appeal to various socially backward communities, besides the Dalit community. He is also trying to attain the support of Other Backward Class communities. In 2019, he tied up with Asaduddin Owaisi-led All India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) for the Lok Sabha elections. The allies polled 41.08 lakh votes which accounted for 7.63 % of the total votes polled in the state.
The results showed that the VBA played an instrumental role in the defeat of the opposition parties in Maharashtra in the 2019 general elections, creating a dent in at least seven Lok Sabha seats where the margin by which the Opposition candidates lost was less than the votes polled by the VBA. The votes polled by the VBA were also considered responsible for the defeat of Congress stalwarts Ashok Chavan and Sushil Kumar Shinde.
However, in the state assembly elections held the same year, the party failed to create any buzz. The VBA contested 243 out of 288 seats in the Assembly elections and failed to win even one seat.
For Ambedkar then, an alliance with the Shiv Sena can boost the chances of VBA making electoral gains. But, this alliance could pose a practical problem for Thackeray, as Ambedkar said he was not keen to work with the three-party MVA coalition.
He told Hindustan Times that he would like to tie up with either the Sena or the Congress. “It is our choice with whom to make an alliance,” Ambedkar said.
The upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls could well turn out to the Thackeray faction’s battle for survival after the vertical split effected by Shinde. The BJP will go all out to wrest back power in the civic body that has been controlled by the Shiv Sena for the past three decades.
Raj meets Shinde
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray held an hour-long meeting with chief minister Eknath Shinde, followed by a brief closed-door meeting at the latter’s residence on Saturday.
“MNS chief Raj Thackeray had a meeting with me over the issues related to public health. He made some suggestions to strengthen the public health system in the state,” the CM tweeted soon after the meeting.
Raj also raised the issue of Pune civic body sending notices to citizens for recovery of property tax with retrospective effect. He sought Shinde’s intervention to stop the recovery.
Raj was accompanied by entrepreneurs who have introduced new systems for conducting diagnostic tests in a short period. “I assured him that the options suggested by him would be considered,” Shinde said.
Both sides did not reveal what transpired in the closed-door meeting. A senior MLA from Shinde’s Sena faction said that the ruling alliance was keen on MNS support for their candidate in Andheri byelection.
The constituency has over 100,000 Marathi-speaking voters and Raj’s appeal to support the BJP candidate, Murji Patel, may help. Raj however has not said anything on the issue as yet.
