Ahead of MNS’s Maha conclave, political leaders meet Raj

Ahead of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) first ‘Maha-Adhiveshan’ conclave scheduled next week, various political leaders have started meeting party chief Raj

Ahead of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) first ‘Maha-Adhiveshan’ conclave scheduled next week, various political leaders have started meeting party chief Raj Thackeray.

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On Saturday, Harshvardhan Jadhav, the son-in-law of Union minister of state and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Raosaheb Danve, met Thackeray. Prakash Mahajan, the uncle of BJP leader Pankaja Munde, also visited Thackeray and expressed willingness to work with him. Both Danve and Mahajan had been MNS members in the party’s initial years.

According to Jadhav, the visit was just a courtesy call. “I have come to meet Rajsaheb. There is no such proposal of joining MNS,” said Jadhav. Mahajan, meanwhile, said he was intrigued as Thackeray is reportedly set to veer towards the Hindutva ideology.

The meetings assume significance as Thackeray is said to announce his party’s stand on Hindutva, and change the colour of his party flag to saffron on January 23 — the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder and the MNS chief’s mentor Bal Thackeray. MNS is also said to be preparing to align with the BJP, and both Mahajan and Danve have good relationships with the top BJP leadership.

Jadhav, who was elected to the Maharashtra Assembly in 2009 on an MNS ticket, deserted the party and won the 2014 Assembly elections on a Sena ticket. After that, he resigned from the Sena and contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections as an independent candidate. Although he was unsuccessful, he gained a substantial number of votes to ensure veteran Sena candidate Chandrakant Khaire’s defeat.

Mahajan was once a prominent leader of MNS before he was shown the door by Thackeray in 2009.

‘Will shift Parel chawl residents, then make Dr Ambedkar memorial’

State housing minister Jitendra Awhad said residents of Bombay Improvement Trust (BIT) chawl number 1 at Parel will be shifted and the memorial of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar would be constructed there

Dr Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution, had lived in this chawl for 20 years. Awhad said the government would pursue the residents to move out by giving them bigger houses and only then build a memorial. Photographs and books of Dr Ambedkar along with other artefacts would be displayed there

Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had in December announced that the chawl would be turned into a memorial.