MNS chief Raj Thackeray.
Credit: PTI Photo
The state of Maharashtra will go to polls in a single phase of November 20, with the results scheduled to be announced on November 23, a day before the current tenure of the 288-member Assembly ends.
The Western state will see a direct fight between the ruling Maha Yuti combine which includes Shiv Sena (Shinde), BJP and NCP (Ajit Pawar) drawn against the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT) and Nationalist Congress Party NCP (Sharad Pawar).
However there is one party which could play spoilsport in some constituencies and it goes by the name of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) -- founded by Raj Thackeray.
MNS had played spoilsport for the Shiv Sena in the 2009 Lok Sabha election by dividing votes of Marathi-speakers in Mumbai, contributing to the defeat of all six candidates of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the city.
In fact, the party's origin in 2006 itself owed to ideological clashes. The nephew of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray, Raj fell out of favour with his cousin Uddhav Thackeray, the son of Balasaheb.
The MNS was formed in 2006 to "secure the rights and interests of Marathi manoos" after Sena supremo Bal anointed his youngest son Uddhav as executive president, sidelining nephew Raj.
Both of them were claimants of Balasaheb's legacy and incidentally, this led to a lot of friction between them which finally resulted in Raj walking out of the parent Sena.
Seeking to grow his party, Raj went hammer and tongs against North Indian migrants, accusing them of stealing jobs from native youths.
Raj had openly backed Narendra Modi’s candidature for the PM’s post in 2014. But he then changed tracks and went on to become his bitter critic, going to the extent of playing videos of promises made by Modi at his well-attended rallies, and pointing out how they remained unfulfilled.
Of the 288 constituencies in the state, MNS had won one seat each in the 2014 and 2019 elections.
In the outgoing Assembly, MNS has only one MLA -- Pramod Patil, who has been re-nominated from Kalyan rural seat.
Assembly Elections 2024 | The Maharashtra Assembly polls will take place against the backdrop of a fractured political landscape in the western state where the Shiv Sena and NCP will be going up against the Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar factions, even as the BJP and Congress try to make their mark. Meanwhile, in Jharkhand, the JMM faces a new challenge after Hemant Soren's recent arrest and Champai, a longstanding party member, joining the BJP. The Haryana election resulted in a shock loss for Congress, which was looking to galvanize on the Lok Sabha poll performance, while J&K also saw the grand old party eventually stepping away from the cabinet, with Omar Abdullah's JKNC forming government. It remains to be seen if the upcoming polls help BJP cement its position further or provide a fillip to I.N.D.I.A. Check live updates and track the latest coverage, live news, in-depth opinions, and analyses only on Deccan Herald.
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