Union minister meets Raj Thackeray

Raj Thackeray is said to have discussed with Danve about how people staying for years on railway land next to the rail tracks were being threatened with action by the railway administration

Mumbai In an overture that is seen as taking the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) closer to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), union minister of state Raosaheb Patil Danve met MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday.

The meetings assume significance after Raj Thackeray made a turn towards Hindutva and right-wing politics in a departure from his previous pro-nativist stance (Pratik Chorge/HT PHOTO)

The meeting took place at Thackeray’s residence ‘Shivteertha’ at Shivaji Park in Mumbai. Thackeray is said to have discussed with Danve about how people staying for years on railway land next to the rail tracks were being threatened with action by the railway administration. Danve, who was accompanied by party leader Shaina NC, also gave Raj a model of a railway engine, which is the MNS symbol. Last Sunday, union minister Nitin Gadkari had called on Raj at his residence.

The meetings assume significance after Raj made a turn towards Hindutva and right-wing politics in a departure from his previous pro-nativist stance. This is being seen as the first step towards an alliance or an informal electoral adjustment with the BJP for the civic polls in cities like Mumbai, Pune and Thane due later this year.

With his party at a nadir after a series of electoral debacles and desertions from the ranks, Thackeray is trying to steer the MNS towards a pro-Hindutva agenda from the previous pro-Marathi nativist plank. This will help the MNS build bridges with the BJP and corner its parent party, the Shiv Sena, which has been compelled to temper its right-wing instincts after allying with the “secular” Congress and NCP, despite the obvious contradictions in the ruling Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

At his party’s Gudi Padwa rally, Raj lashed out at his estranged cousin and chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, and ticked the right boxes on issues close to the heart of the BJP. He asked the state government to remove loudspeakers on mosques and said that if this was not done, his cadre would play Hanuman Chalisa on loudspeakers before them.