Shiv Sena rally today, Uddhav Thackeray may raise Ram temple issue

Sena leaders said the party chief will again raise the issue of construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. “He will also make his intentions clear about the possibility of an alliance,” said a Sena leader.

Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray may make an announcement on alliance with BJP, sources said.

Today, all eyes are on Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, as he holds a ‘maha rally’ in Pandharpur, where he is likely to make an important announcement on a pre-poll alliance with his party’s long-term partner, the BJP. But, with the Shiv Sena showing no signs of relenting and continuing its attacks on the BJP and the Prime Minister, the party is taking no chances and increasingly feeling that it should be ‘battle-ready’, said top sources in the BJP.

At a meeting held in Mumbai four days ago, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis apparently asked sitting MLAs, ministers and even corporators to hold a slew of programmes in the constituencies represented by the Shiv Sena, in a bid to remain in the limelight and get ready for the elections next year, in case no pre-poll alliance works out.

BJP state spokesperson Madhav Bhandari refused to comment on either the party’s strategy or its preparedness. MLA Laxman Jagtap said if the BJP nominates him to contest from Maval, he would surely ensure a victory for the party. “The reason for this is the changed scenario after the 2014 Lok Sabha election. The BJP has won every other election in Maval and its strength has gone up,” he said.

“I am ready…If the alliance takes place, it is good. Further, the seat should be allotted to the BJP as the public mood is in favour of the party,” said Jagtap, whose banners and posters can be seen all over the constituency.

In Shirur constituency, sitting MLA Mahesh Landge has already put up banners and posters that proclaim him as a “future MP.” His brother Kartik Landge said they were waiting for the final go-ahead from the party.

BJP has also apparently asked District Guardian Minister Girish Bapat to get ready for the electoral battle. However, Bapat said he will not comment on this matter. “I will do whatever the party tells me to do,” he said. PCMC corporator Seema Savale, who is already campaigning in Amravati, which is represented by Shiv Sena’s Anandrao Adsul, said, “We are holding several programmes in the constituency. If the party tells me to contest, I am ready… we have laid the the groundwork for the contest”.

Similarly, BJP sources in other constituencies, such as Aurangabad and Osmanabad, said the party has asked local MLAs to get ready. Meanwhile, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray is slated to hold his “maha-rally” in Pandharpur on Monday, the second rally after the one he held in Ayodhya. Sena leaders said the party chief will again raise the issue of the construction of Ram temple at the disputed site in Ayodhya. “He will also make his intentions clear about the possibility of an alliance,” said a Sena leader.

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Nearly four lakh Shiv Sainiks from across Maharashtra are expected to gather in Pandharpur for the rally.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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