On Sunday, MNS leader and former MLA Bala Nandgaonkar visited Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's residence, Matoshree, in Bandra (East) to broach the topic of an alliance and met senior leaders like Subhash Desai, Anil Parab and Anil Desai.
Despite overtures by rival MNS, Shiv Sena may not bite the bait for an alliance or understanding in the BMC elections. The Raj Thackeray-led MNS, whose support base overlaps with Shiv Sena's core Maharashtrian constituency, is facing turbulent times due to desertions in its ranks and an eroding electoral performance. So, its leadership feels that any truck with the Shiv Sena will rejuvenate it.
Shiv Sena leaders feel that any tie-up with MNS may polarise non-Maharashtrian voters in favour of the BJP — which the party considers its main political adversary for the control of the richest civic body in India.
The aggressive Raj, who was seen as an archetypal Shiv Sainik and projected as his uncle and Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray's heir apparent before being sidelined in favour of cousin Uddhav, quit the party to form the MNS in 2006.
On Sunday, MNS leader and former MLA Bala Nandgaonkar visited Sena president Uddhav Thackeray's residence, Matoshree, in Bandra (East) to broach the topic of an alliance and met senior leaders like Subhash Desai, Anil Parab and Anil Desai.
However, a senior Shiv Sena leader said that the chances of any alliance or tie-up between the two nativist parties were near impossible. "When we have snapped our alliance with the BJP, where is the question of any understanding with the MNS We have already announced our intent to test waters in the state on our own," he said.
"This may work in favour of the BJP as this can help them claim that while the Shiv Sena snapped ties with the BJP, they entered into a truck with the MNS for Marathi votes. This will lead to similar polarisation among non-Maharashtrian voters in their favour and make us lose out on any incremental or floating votes we could have gained from this section," he said.
The Sena leader, however, admitted that they had been caught in a cleft stick over the overture, which taps into the latent sentiment among supporters of both parties for the two estranged cousins to unite.
"Rejecting the proposal will help the MNS paint the Shiv Sena as a villain," he said.
The support base of the MNS had eroded significantly and talks of an alliance with the Sena could also be meant to stem any further desertions from the party, the Shiv Sena leader claimed, adding that an alliance with the MNS or spurning these overtures would be a zero-sum game.
"We have given a proposal. The ball is in their court. We have not set any terms (for an alliance or understanding). They can at least start talks," said a senior MNS leader. He added that since winning bargins were expected to be wafer-thin in the elections due to the presence of several parties and independents in the fray and resultant fragmentation, consolidation of Maharashtrian and Sena-MNS voters would benefit both parties.
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