Mumbai: The Shiv Sena (UBT) on Saturday made the split in Maha Vikas Aghadi official. The party announced that it will go solo in all upcoming municipal corporation elections in Maharashtra. The other alliance partners of the MVA have expressed surprise over the Uddhav Thackeray-led party’s decision, but none of them was willing to convince it to reconsider its decision. NCP (SP) leader Jitendra Awhad said it was a decision taken in haste and it will damage the Opposition parties.
The relations among the MVA partners were strained after the Lok Sabha election due to a number of reasons, including Congress and NCP(SP)’s refusal to declare Uddhav Thackeray as the chief ministerial candidate before the Assembly elections. Both the parties insisted that the chief minister will be decided after the results and the party winning the highest number of seats will get the post. After the MVA’s crushing defeat in the Assembly polls, the tensions in the alliance escalated with all parties blaming each other for the defeat.
Soon after the Assembly election results, in which the MVA won only 47 out of 288 seats, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party was mulling over going it alone in the local body elections and returning to its radical Hindutva agenda. Uddhav Thackeray has held a series of meetings with his party’s leaders and office bearers to get ground level feedback from them.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that his party has decided to contest all municipal corporations in the state, including Mumbai and Nagpur, on its own. He confirmed that Mr. Thackeray had approved the decision.
“In an alliance, workers of individual parties don’t get opportunities and it hampers organisational growth,” Raut told reporters in Nagpur. “We will contest polls to Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur and other municipal corporations, zilla parishads and panchayats on our strength,” Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha MP blamed the Congress for the lack of coordination in MVA. He also claimed that the INDIA bloc didn’t hold a single meeting after the Lok Sabha election results and as the largest party, it was Congress’s responsibility to convene a meeting.
Another Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sawant claimed that his party would have won far more seats in the Assembly election had they contested it separately. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party won only 20 Assembly seats.
“We want to assess our strength by contesting local body elections on our own. Municipal elections provide us a chance to provide the opportunity to our cadre. After the Assembly results, many of our leaders were of the opinion that we would have won far more than 20 seats had we contested the election alone,” Sawant said.
Expressing regret over Shiv Sena (UBT)’s decision to go solo, Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP) leader Jitendra Awhad said the MVA should have continued in order to avoid the split in the opposition’s votes. “If they wish to go alone, who are we to stop them? We cannot take along anyone forcibly. We need to stay together after the assembly poll defeat. I don’t think it is the right decision. All three parties will be adversely affected by this,” he said.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that they will speak to Mr. Thackeray before coming to a conclusion. “Raut is a big leader of his party. What he said must be his party’s official stand. But we will still talk to Mr. Thackeray and try to convince him to remain in the alliance. If he remains firm on his stand, we are also free to choose our own path,” the Congress leader said.
Soon after the Assembly election results, in which the MVA won only 47 out of 288 seats, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party was mulling over going it alone in the local body elections and returning to its radical Hindutva agenda. Uddhav Thackeray has held a series of meetings with his party’s leaders and office bearers to get ground level feedback from them.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut said that his party has decided to contest all municipal corporations in the state, including Mumbai and Nagpur, on its own. He confirmed that Mr. Thackeray had approved the decision.
“In an alliance, workers of individual parties don’t get opportunities and it hampers organisational growth,” Raut told reporters in Nagpur. “We will contest polls to Mumbai, Thane, Nagpur and other municipal corporations, zilla parishads and panchayats on our strength,” Raut said.
The Rajya Sabha MP blamed the Congress for the lack of coordination in MVA. He also claimed that the INDIA bloc didn’t hold a single meeting after the Lok Sabha election results and as the largest party, it was Congress’s responsibility to convene a meeting.
Another Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sawant claimed that his party would have won far more seats in the Assembly election had they contested it separately. The Uddhav Thackeray-led party won only 20 Assembly seats.
“We want to assess our strength by contesting local body elections on our own. Municipal elections provide us a chance to provide the opportunity to our cadre. After the Assembly results, many of our leaders were of the opinion that we would have won far more than 20 seats had we contested the election alone,” Sawant said.
Expressing regret over Shiv Sena (UBT)’s decision to go solo, Sharad Pawar-led NCP(SP) leader Jitendra Awhad said the MVA should have continued in order to avoid the split in the opposition’s votes. “If they wish to go alone, who are we to stop them? We cannot take along anyone forcibly. We need to stay together after the assembly poll defeat. I don’t think it is the right decision. All three parties will be adversely affected by this,” he said.
Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar said that they will speak to Mr. Thackeray before coming to a conclusion. “Raut is a big leader of his party. What he said must be his party’s official stand. But we will still talk to Mr. Thackeray and try to convince him to remain in the alliance. If he remains firm on his stand, we are also free to choose our own path,” the Congress leader said.
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