Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will contest the upcoming civic elections in Mumbai together.
According to Raut, both parties, led by the Thackeray cousins, will also contest the local body elections all over Maharashtra together.
"The Thackeray brothers (Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray) will contest the municipal corporation elections in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Kalyan-Dombivali together and win. The strength of Raj and Uddhav Thackeray is the strength of the unity of the Marathi-speakers. No power can break the iron fist of `Marathi manus' now," Raut was quoted by PTI as saying.
The Rajya Sabha MP said that the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) is already in talks with the MNS to form an alliance.
The Thackeray cousins reunited for a political rally for the first time in two decades last month when they held a joint one in Mumbai over the Marathi language row. They have been hinting at an alliance for some time now, with Uddhav saying that they had come together to stay together.
BJP dismisses the Thackeray alliance
Maharashtra’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be unfazed by the alliance between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray and quickly dismissed Sanjay Raut’s statement.
{{/usCountry}}Maharashtra’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) seems to be unfazed by the alliance between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray and quickly dismissed Sanjay Raut’s statement.
{{/usCountry}}BJP’s Pravin Darekar, a member of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, said it was unclear whether the two Thackeray cousins had held any talks or if it was all Raut's "guesswork".
"We have not seen so much helplessness in Uddhav Thackeray, who did not remember his own cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, for the last 20 years," he said.
Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan said the Shiv Sena (UBT) remembers Marathi-speakers only when elections are near.
“The BJP received huge support from Marathi voters in last year's assembly elections and the attempt to mislead them did not work," he said.