Raj Thackeray to hold three public meets to campaign for Congress-NCP

In what may add to the woes of the Shiv Sena and the BJP, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray will hold three public meetings in Mumbai to campaign for the candidates of the Congress and NCP. However, the MNS will not campaign for former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam, with whom they have crossed swords earlier.

The MNS will also distribute over two lakh handbills to voters outside Railway stations, listing the BJP's "failures" like demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax (GST) which disrupted the economy, rising prices of petroleum products, lack of job creation, agrarian distress, and 'jumlas' like the promise to deposit Rs 15 lakh in every bank account. A senior MNS leader said Raj would hold "at least three public meetings to campaign for Congress candidates, actor Urmila Matondkar (Mumbai North) and Milind Deora (Mumbai South) and the NCP's lone nominee from the city, Sanjay Dina Patil (Mumbai North East)."

"There are chances that he may address one for Priya Dutt," he added.

While Matondkar is contesting against the BJP's Gopal Shetty, Deora and Patil are pitted against Arvind Sawant (Shiv Sena) and Manoj Kotak (BJP). Priya Dutt is in a fight against the BJP's Poonam Mahajan. However, MNS will stay away from Nirupam's campaign. Nirupam had clashed with the MNS during the anti-migrant protests in 2008.

He is, however, campaigning against the Modi-Shah duo by holding rallies across Maharashtra in seats like Nanded, Solapur, and Hatkanangale, where former chief ministers Sushilkumar Shinde and Ashok Chavan (Congress) and farmer leader Raju Shetti of the Swabhimaani Paksha are in the fray.

Though Raj is not openly canvassing support for the Congress-NCP, his call to defeat Modi-Shah will work to the opposition's favour. The MNS plans to capitalise on the anger of Shiv Sena cadre. In 2017, the Shiv Sena had announced its decision to contest all future polls sans an alliance with the BJP but made a U-turn later.

Though leaders from the two parties are trying to present a united face, functionaries admit that the bad blood between the cadre due to their internecine wars that played out in the public domain, may hurt their prospects.

"The criticism in these public meetings will be focussed on Modi and Shah. He will not mention the Shiv Sena as this will take things to another level," the MNS leader said.

The MNS faced an electoral washout in the 2014 Lok Sabha and state assembly polls after a stellar showing in the previous elections, where it secured 13 seats in the legislature and contributed to the defeat of the Shiv Sena- BJP in nine of the 11 Lok Sabha seats it contested from.