Milind Deora (Congress) and Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) are taking on Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) and Manoj Kotak (BJP) respectively from these seats.
In what may prove to be a shot in the arm for the Congress-NCP, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray will hold two rallies in Mumbai on Tuesday and Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Raj will speak to the MNS cadre at Shahid Bhagatsingh Maidan in Abhyudaya Nagar's Kalachowki in the Mumbai South constituency, while on Wednesday, he will hold a public meeting at Khadee Maidan at Bhandup in the Mumbai North East seat.
Milind Deora (Congress) and Sanjay Dina Patil (NCP) are taking on Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) and Manoj Kotak (BJP) respectively from these seats.
Officials of the Election Commission had refused to give MNS permission to organise a rally on Wednesday at Shivdi (Kalachowki falls in this assembly segment) and asked the party workers to approach the local authority (BMC), said MNS Shivdi division chief Sanjay Naik. "While we were being pushed around between these two authorities, the Shiv Sena booked four large grounds at Shivdi. Hence, we are organising a rally at Abhyudaya Nagar on Tuesday and Bhandup on Wednesday," he added.
Raj will also address a rally on Thursday at Panvel, which falls in the Maval Lok Sabha constituency, where former deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar's son Parth is contesting against the Shiv Sena's Shrirang Barne. On Friday, he will speak at Nashik, where the nephew of another deputy chief minister Chhagan Bhujbal, Sameer is fighting against Sena's Hemant Godse.
The MNS chief, who had supported Narendra Modi as the BJP's Prime Ministerial nominee in 2014, has now turned into a trenchant critic of the Prime Minister and BJP president Amit Shah. After talks for seat adjustment with the NCP fell through, Raj is keeping the gunpowder dry for the state assembly polls by not fielding any candidate.
Though Raj is not openly canvassing support for the Congress-NCP, his call to defeat Modi-Shah will work to the opposition's favour. The MNS plans to capitalise on the anger of Shiv Sena cadre. In 2017, the Shiv Sena had announced its decision to contest all future polls sans an alliance with the BJP but made a U-turn later.
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