Uddhav Thackeray, Ajit Pawar meet as Shiv Sena, NCP work on an alliance plan for future elections

The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), partners in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in state, have begun working on a pre-election tie-up

The Shiv Sena and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), partners in the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in state, have begun working on a pre-election tie-up for future polls. Chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who is also the Sena chief, and senior NCP leader and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar held a closed-door meeting on Thursday to discuss a future alliance plan, multiple leaders from both parties told HT on the condition of anonymity, as no decision has been formally made.

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The parties, according to the leaders, are looking at forging an electoral alliance to contest future polls together, and as a first step, they may contest local elections in Raigad district as allies. After their meeting, Thackeray and Pawar met legislators of both parties from the district at the Bal Thackeray memorial. NCP MP Sunil Tatkare and Sena secretary Milind Narvekar were also present at the meeting with the legislators.

The parties are keen to contest district council (zilla parishad) and civic polls, which will be held in the next couple of years. This would include the Mumbai civic polls, which are significant for Sena.

The three MVA partners, Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, had earlier discussed an electoral alliance plan. While Sena and NCP have started work on it, the Congress is undecided about it as certain factions within the party are not in favour of contesting elections in alliance with Sena.

“Both Thackeray and Pawar are of the opinion that they should finalise the alliance plans instead of waiting for Congress to decide. If this plan clicks, then the two parties can go ahead with pre-election alliance for next Assembly and Lok Sabha elections too,” said a key NCP functionary.

Political analyst Hemant Desai called it a “tactical move” by the two parties and said it could be significant for them. “Their strongholds are largely different and their alliance can help them. But will their cadre accept it and respond accordingly is what remains to be seen. This also raises the question over where Congress stands. Will they join or stay away? The move may lead to mistrust between Congress and its two ruling partners,” said Desai.

Significantly, Thursday’s meeting also indicates that Thackeray and Ajit Pawar are “working together”. Pawar had tried to scuttle Thackeray’s chances of becoming chief minister when he had taken oath as deputy chief minister along with Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Devendra Fadnavis in the middle of e discussions to form a three-party alliance after the 2019 Assembly elections. While it was a short-lived move, with most NCP MLAs sticking with party chief Sharad Pawar, Ajit soon had returned to the party and made deputy chief minister.

“That Uddhavji chose to discuss such a crucial issue with Ajitdada indicates the two are probably working together now,” said a senior Sena leader.

Shiv Sena contested the 2019 Assembly elections in alliance with BJP, but parted ways with the latter after the elections over the issue of chief ministership. It then forged an alliance with NCP and Congress to form the MVA government in the state in November 2019, with Thackeray as the chief minister.