Days after Raj met CM Fadnavis, his son meets Shelar; sets tongues wagging

The meeting of Raj and his son Amit with two top BJP leaders, Fadnavis and Shelar, within a week has created a flutter. Officially, both parties have termed the meetings apolitical. But political managers in both the BJP and MNS indicate the growing proximity between the two parties is a tactical move ahead of local body elections. It has also led to speculations on whether the MNS will have an alliance with the Shiv Sena (UBT) for the local body polls, including the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

Speaking to the media after the meeting, Amit said, “I led a delegation of MNS Vidyarthi Sena (students’ wing) to meet Shelar. I requested the BJP leader to intervene to get the exams in some private, autonomous and deemed universities rescheduled as they coincide with Ganesh festival beginning from August 27. As Shelar has taken the initiative in declaring the festival ‘Rajya Mahotsav’, we urged him to look into the matter.”

“Some private and autonomous colleges have announced exams during Ganesh festival. This will hugely inconvenience the students as they will not be able to participate in the festivities,” Amit said. “Therefore, we requested that the exams be rescheduled,” he added.

Shelar, who is also Guardian Minister of Mumbai suburbs, assured that he would speak to the departments and officials concerned.

However, a highly placed source in the BJP, requesting anonymity, said, “Although the reason cited by Amit is a fact, in politics there is more between the lines. Within a span of a week, Raj and Amit called upon Fadnavis and Shelar separately. It has a larger political message, which cannot be overlooked. Some tactical move on part of the MNS ahead of local body elections cannot be ruled out.”

What is interesting to note is that while Raj said he raised issues related to Mumbai traffic problems with Fadnavis, the meeting took place a day after BEST Employees Co-operative Credit Society elections, in which the Shiv Sena (UBT)-MNS panel lost the polls on Wednesday. After coming together, the BEST elections were the estranged Thackeray cousins’ first litmus test. However, it was a huge setback as they drew a blank. Whereas, the BJP and its associate panel led by Shashank Rao swept the polls. The BEST polls had been hyped by the Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS as ‘Brand Thackeray’.

Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut, however, underplayed the MNS leaders’ meeting with BJP leaders as nothing unusual. “As opposition party leaders individuals meet ruling party CM and others to take up issues of public importance,” Raut exclaimed.

A senior MNS office-bearer, however, said, “When big leaders of two important parties meet it cannot be dismissed as routine. They would have reflected on many important issues, including politics in Maharashtra.”

With the BJP determined to wrest the BMC from Shiv Sena (UBT) rule, its top leadership is exploring all permutation and combinations. A political manager in the BJP said, “The BJP will weigh all options for the coming polls with regional parties. There will be no uniform formula of one size fits all. Every district, every municipal corporation will have different dynamics.”

Sources indicated that the BJP, which is keen to contest solo in majority of the municipal corporations, will certainly not like to see the Thackerays united for the polls. With strong North Indians and Gujarati vote base, divided Marathi vote bank helps the BJP strategically.