Ball in Raj’s court: Uddhav Sena ready to reconcile with MNS for the sake of Maharashtra

Mumbai: Amid developments within Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS in the run up to local bodies polls, Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said that he would join hands with anyone who has the interests of Maharashtra and Marathi-manoos.

Shiv Sena (UBT) deputy leader Sushma Andhare said that she had asked Thackeray regarding his views on Raj's statement.

“Uddhav ji told us that he is ready to join hands in the larger interests of the state,” she said.

“They (Raj and Uddhav) are brothers. They have each other's phone numbers. When needed they can call each other. They do not need any third party mediation, the ball is in their court now,” she added.

The statement by Andhare comes days after Uddhav’s son said that the party was ready to join hands with anyone who is working in the interests of Maharashtra.

“When they (MNS) talked about it, we responded. Their seniors should come forward. We are there where we were (in the past). For the betterment of the country, Maharashtra and society, we welcome those with an open heart who are against the anti-Maharashtra BJP and (Shiv Sena chief leader) Eknath Shinde,” Aaditya had said.

The MNS, however, said that there is no proposal. “There is no concrete proposal. There is no formal proposal as far as I am aware of, there are statements (from Sena UBT). when there is a proposal we will discuss,” said MNS Mumbai chief Sandeep Deshpande.

Meanwhile, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sunil Prabhu sounded optimistic. “We all know what the entire Maharashtra wants,” he said.

On the other hand, Shiv Sena spokesperson and Social Justice Minister Sanjay Shirsat reacted to Aaditya’s statement. “He said that they are ready to align anyone…does it mean that they are ready to join hands with (AIMIM President) Asaduddin Owaisi and (Samajwadi Party Maharashtra Unit President and MLA) Abu Asim Azmi,” he said.