Even before the results of the ongoing Lok Sabha elections are out, major political parties in Maharashtra have started exploring their options for the state Assembly elections, just six months away.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has been first off the block. Speaking at a function in Pune last week, Thackeray praised the BJP’s state unit president, Nitin Gadkari, and said he had all the qualities to be the next chief minister, indicating a new, possible, post-poll equations.
However, Thackeray, whose rallies in the state have evoked a good response, is also being wooed by the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). State Home Minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil dropped in at Thackeray’s residence on Saturday. Although Patil claims he was just having a cup of tea with the MNS chief and no politics was discussed, hardly anyone in the political circle believes this.
Although details of the conversation are not known, this alarmed Shiv Sena’s working president Uddhav Thackeray who, currently holidaying in London, called up NCP president Sharad Pawar to find out whether the NCP was considering an alliance or seat-sharing adjustment with the MNS in the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Meanwhile, BJP state unit president Nitin Gadkari said: “We took stock of the political situation in the state, but the issue of alliance with Raj Thackeray’s MNS in the forthcoming Assembly elections was not on our agenda.”