MUMBAI
Campaign kicks off, but a truce between Raj Thackeray , Uddhav Thackeray unlikely before BMC polls.
An ambitious campaign to bring the warring Thackeray cousins together before the 2012 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections kicked off on Sunday.
Titled “Mazi Chalval Mi Maharashtracha (My movement for my Maharashtra)”, it is an outcome of the growing demand of the sons of the soil that Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray bury the hatchet and start working together for the 2012 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.
But experts feel that there is very little chance of the warring cousins calling it a truce until the civic polls are over.
Senior Shiv Sena member Satish Walunj, along with six others,
has taken up the difficult ‘Thackeray Jodo (unite Thackerays)’ mission. Walunj said that they knew it was going to be a formidable task to make the cousins bury their differences and join hands.
“It is our sincere attempt to try and make the Sena-MNS work together. We have seen how Marathi votes get divided between the Sena and the MNS. It benefits the Congress and the NCP. If we do not take corrective measures, the same thing will happen in the BMC polls,” Walunj said.
Identical sentiments were echoed at the Shiv Sena shakhas in Borivli, Goregaon, Bandra and Dadar. Some MNS members, too, said that a truce was needed.
A senior MNS official said on condition of anonymity, “If the Sena and the MNS come together, they could work miracle. But it will be difficult to make it happen, as neither Uddhav nor Raj would be ready to give up anything.”
A Sena MLA said, “Uddhav and Raj will never accept each other’s leadership. There is a lot of bitterness between the two. You cannot have two leaders in an organisation.”
A close associate of Raj said, “Leadership issue is going to be the bone of contention. Why should a charismatic Raj take backseat to Uddhav? Sena leaders will say Bal Thackeray has chosen Uddhav his heir-apparent. So, there is no question of him surrendering the leadership. In such a situation, the only way out is to let the cousins fight the BMC polls independently. If the Sena and the MNS perform well, a post-poll alliance, perhaps, is possible.”
Senior Sena leader Manohar Joshi, who is also trying to make the cousins come to the negotiation table, said, “An immediate Sena-MNS merger seems to be difficult.” The BJP, too, is keen on a truce between the two senas. For the Sena-MNS quarrel has affected it as well.
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