Amid talks about the possibility of his party forging an alliance with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) says that his party has not submitted any proposal to the Sena (UBT) for a tie-up for the forthcoming municipal corporation, Lok Sabha and State Assembly elections.
Alluding to reports in a section of the media that the MNS had submitted proposals seeking a tie-up to Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray on two occasions in the recent past, MNS president Raj Thackeray dismissed the speculation and said: “ We have not given any proposal to the Uddhav Thackeay-led Shiv Sena”.
The ongoing speculation in the state political circles should be seen in the light of the fact that at a party meeting held last week, some of his party men urged Raj to initiate talks with his elder cousin brother Uddhav for al electoral alliance with the Sena (UBT). However, sources said that Raj did not express any opinion on the issue.
Later on a banner was seen in front of the Shiv Sena Bhavan at Dadar in north-central Mumbai urging Uddhav and Raj to come togerher, as such a unity would benefit both the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS. Later on similar hoardings were put up in the Municipal Corporation poll-bound cities like Thane, Pune, Nagpur and Nashik.
One more incident that has added fuel to the ongoing speculation about the possible tie-up between the Shiv Sena and MNS is that Abhijeet Panse, a confidant of the MNS chief, had gone to meet Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut at the office of Sena mouth-piece “Saamana” where the latter is an executive editor. Later, while heading towards Uddhav Thackeray’s Bandra residence “Matoshtri”, Raut travelled with Panse and dropped the latter enroute.