MNS may again hurt Shiv Sena-BJP in Pune

Though the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) spoiled the party for the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) alliance in the Lok Sabha polls when its Pune candidate got over 75,000 votes, the saffron alliance is hoping hard that the ploy won’t work this time.

The 75,928 votes polled by the MNS candidate Ranjit Shirole was seen as a crucial factor in the saffron combine losing the seat to Suresh Kalmadi of the Congress by a slender margin of 25,701 votes.

Of the six assembly seats from Pune, the Congress won three seats while the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP won one seat each in the 2004 polls.

Shiv Sena Pune president Nana Wadekar is hoping voters will see through the MNS ploy. “The voters are intelligent enough to understand that voting for the MNS means voting for a candidate who is certain to lose and thereby weaken the saffron alliance. Voters will not make the same mistake again,” he said.

Though the MNS Pune unit president Prakash Dhore said that the party is contesting to win on its own strength, the MNS’ efforts to divide votes is evident from the fact that it has fielded three sitting corporators. “Our party is new, and is working in the interest of the society. That is the reason why a large number of people have been attracted to it. The youth constitute a bulk of our strength,” he said.

Dhore accused other parties of taking the MNS for granted, and for assuming that “they alone have a monopoly over the youth”.