After 20-long years, the estranged Thackeray cousins have reunited. “Those who can’t bear to see what is happening within BJP can also come with Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS alliance,” Uddhav Thackeray,who heads the Shiv Sena (UBT), said as his party formally joined hands with MNS Chief Raj Thackeray ahead of municipal corporation elections.
Uddhav Thackeray sealed the alliance with the “batenge toh katenge” slogan by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, warning that any split and lack of unity would be catastrophic.
Ahead of the formal announcement, Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, accompanied by their wives, paid tribute to party founder Balasaheb Thackeray at his memorial in Shivaji Park in Mumbai. Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray and MNS leader Amit Thackeray were also present during the homage. The UBT Sena sees the alliance as one that will speak for the cause of the Marathi manoos.
“This is a very auspicious moment, and the people of Maharashtra have been waiting for this moment… Mumbai accommodates everyone within itself. We have never looked at caste or anyone’s religion. We have always spoken about Marathis and sons of the soil,” Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Sawant was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
‘Thackeray brothers are coming together, on one platform, to save Mumbai’
For both party workers it means the end of years of political distance between the two cousins. The cadres hope that after the drubbing in the Panchayat polls the BMC elections will bring better news for the parties.
“Today is a historic day, where both (Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray) Thackeray brothers are coming together, on one platform, to save Mumbai… The way people want to loot Mumbai, want to keep it mortgaged to themselves, against that we want to launch a public movement. The people of Mumbai want both Thackeray brothers to come together… We are fully confident that in the coming times, along with Mumbai, there will be the echo of a strong government of Shiv Sena and MNS in 28 other municipal corporations..,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anand Dubey, according to ANI.
MNS leader Yashwant Killedar said, “Two brothers are coming together, and we have been waiting for this moment for a long time. What is happening today is a matter of happiness for us. Workers of both parties are very excited.”
‘Great photo op,’ says BJP
The Eknath Shinde faction dismissed the coming together of the Thackeray cousins as nothing more than a photo opportunity that they feel will do little to upset them.
Shiv Sena spokesperson Manisha Kayande said,”I think it is a great photo opportunity and emotional cards will be played. But what will be there for the people? It is good that brothers are coming together. But the question is, why did the separate and divide Marathi-speaking people and take them for granted over the last 20 years? They have not given an answer to this yet?”
Maharashtra Minister Sanjay Shirsat, meanwhile, said that the “alliance is formed today because of compulsion, as Congress is not with Uddhav Thackeray, and Sharad Pawar is not with them”.
“…If these people had real strength, why did they suffer such a crushing defeat in the recent municipal council elections? Just as a drowning man clings to a straw, in the same way, they (Uddhav Thackeray) want to take the support of Raj Thackeray… However, I don’t think this will benefit them much.”
Maharashtra State Election Commission has announced elections to 29 municipal corporations across the state, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). Polling will be held on January 15, with counting set to take place on January 16.
