MVA working on plan to contest together

With the local bodies polls in Maharashtra around the corner, the Maha Vikas Aghadi leadership met at the Vidhan Bhavan Complex in Mumbai and stressed the need to be united to take on the BJP and its allies.

Days after NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who chaired the meeting, asked the opposition parties to be united and take on the government.

Read | Will ensure MVA contests Maharashtra Assembly, Lok Sabha polls together: Sharad Pawar

Top leaders of NCP, Congress and the Thackeray-group of Shiv Sena - including the leader of opposition in the Assembly Ajit Pawar and his counterpart in the Council Ambadas Danve were present during the deliberations.

Giving the example of the recently-concluded bye-elections to Kasba Peth in Pune where Congress-MVA candidate Ravindra Dhangekar defeated BJP’s Hemant Rasane, Thackeray said: “The elections have proved that if we are united we can win polls.”

Earlier in the day, Dhangekar, accompanied by state Congress president Nana Patole had called on Thackeray at Matoshree to seek his blessings and thank him for the support.

“I am not dreaming of becoming prime minister but will definitely try to bring change in 2024,” Thackeray told reporters.

Over the last couple of days, Dhangekar had met Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in New Delhi and Pawar Senior in Pune.

Addressing the MVA meeting further, Thackeray, who was dislodged nine months ago by his own party leader Eknath Shinde with the help of BJP, said that common people now would have to shoulder the responsibility of saving democracy in the country.

The MVA meeting assumes significance; it is the first big meeting after Thackeray lost the party’s name Shiv Sena and bow and arrow symbol, which the Election Commission allotted to Shinde, who is now the chief leader of Shiv Sena.

The MVA is also planning to have joint rallies across the state starting with Mumbai and divisional headquarters in Pune, Nashik, Nagpur, Amravati and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar.