BJP's friendship a key arrow in Raj Thackeray's quiver against Maha Vikas Aghadi

On 'Gudi Padva', when Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray launched a broadside against the Maha Vikas Aghadi and questioned its very formation, he appeared to toe the line drawn by the BJP.

Raj, though he did not name them, openly attacked Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray and NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, the two architects of the anti-BJP front.

For the 53-year-old firebrand nephew of late Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray and estranged cousin of Uddhav, the 2022-2024 time period is crucial.

Several big corporations of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, Thane, Vasai-Virar, Kalyan-Dombivli, Navi Mumbai, Pune, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Nashik, Aurangabad, Nagpur and Amravati, are scheduled for polls which is a sort of mini-Assembly elections, probably late in 2022, if the issue of political reservations for OBCs is sorted out.

Also read: Ensure Hanuman Chalisa is played twice as loud outside mosques: Raj Thackeray

In 2024, the Lok Sabha elections are scheduled and would be followed by Vidhan Sabha polls.

Raj cannot take chances and has a friend in BJP. For the saffron party, he perhaps is the best bet to take on Thackeray-Pawar.

When minutes after his 45-minute speech at the historic Shivaji Park in Dadar, the orator-par-excellence got support from the leader of opposition in Maharashtra Assembly and ex-chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, his counterpart in Council Pravin Darekar and state BJP president Chandrakant Patil, things were in open. Recently, union transport and highways minister Nitin Gadkari visited his house, albiet in a personal capacity.

In 2006, when Raj walked out of the fold of his uncle following differences with his cousin Uddhav, there were a lot of expectations from him. Though Raj was touching upon issues concerning the common man and the 'Marathi Manoos' and spoke of development agenda, nothing seemed to work for him in the long run.

In August 2011, he undertook a nine-day tour of Gujarat and admired the then chief minister Narendra Modi for his model of development, but post-2014, he had emerged as one of the most vocal critics of the prime minister.

Also read: MVA allies slam Raj Thackeray, call him BJP spokesperson

During the 2014 Maharashtra polls, it was seen that Raj and Uddhav had gone way past any point of political reconciliantion.

Over the years, without registering any major wins, MNS has been working the Maharashtra politics in the background. In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, though it did not win any seats, MNS damaged the prospects of the Sena-BJP saffron alliance in Mumbai. In Assembly polls, it won 11 of the 288 seats and damaged Sena and BJP's prospects in urban pockets. In 2014, the MNS could not win a single seat in the Lok Sabha polls and managed just one seat in the Assembly.

In 2019, Raj’s party did not contest the Lok Sabha polls but addressed a dozen rallies targeting Modi and his trusted aide Amit Shah and became close to NCP and Congress. However, in the Vidhan Sabha, he could get only one seat. That year was a turning point when Sena broke away from BJP and joined hands with Congress-NCP to launch Maha Vikas Aghadi.

On January 23, 2020, the birth anniversary of Balasaheb, while launching his son Amit, rebranded the party and adopted a strong Hindutva agenda.

Things were clear that he was getting close to BJP again as during the last couple of years, he had refrained from targeting the Modi-Shah duo.

Then came the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdown. With the lockdown lifted completely, he chose to address party workers on April 2 — 'Gudi Padva' — and his moves speak volumes.

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