Aiming to expand its party base and take on the BJP in poll-bound Uttar Pradesh and Goa, Shiv Sena party president Uddhav Thackeray has announced that he will visit Goa, Varanasi and Ayodhya. While the dates for his visit are yet to be announced, the Sena chief also has plans of performing Ganga aarti in Varanasi and visiting the Ram mandir in Ayodhya. Both the states go to polls next year and the Sena has decided to contest the elections there against the BJP.
Mr Thackeray’s visit to Varanasi, the constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the Ram mandir, which tops the right wing parties’ agenda, is sure to ruffle feathers in the BJP. “Uddhavji’s visit is confirmed. But the date is yet to be decided. It will be announced as soon as it is finalised. A tiger doesn’t hide anywhere he goes. Uddhavji will perform Ganga aarti at Varanasi before heading to Ayodhya. The Sena is contesting elections in UP and we are going to have a good show there. In the past, we have had an MLA from UP. In the mayoral election held two years ago, while our candidate stood third, Samajwadi Party stood fourth,” said Shiv Sena’s UP coordinator, Vinay Shukla.
In the late 1990s, only one Sena MLA was elected in Uttar Pradesh. Besides this, the party did not win any elections in the state. However, after doing well in the Bihar elections with more than two lakh votes, the Sena had been eyeing other north Indian states and holding various rallies. The Shiv Sena is allying with a former head of the RSS in Goa, Subhash Velingkar, to prepare for the assembly elections scheduled next year. Mr Velingkar has already opened a front against the BJP in Goa.
With the Sena claiming it would put up a good show in the elections in the two states, the BJP has stated that they are awaiting for the party to contest, following which they would realise their actual base in these states. “Our alliance is only in Maharashtra. Outside the state, we are separate parties,” said Niranjan Shetty, the chief spokesperson of the BJP in Mumbai.
