Mumbai: Inching one more step towards Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has decided to join the former's rally scheduled to be held on February 9. Though BJP has avoided making such a public announcement, it has directed all its workers in Mumbai to join the rally.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray has announced that his party will hold a rally demanding the ouster of illegal Bangladesh and Pakistan immigrants, where they will march to Azad maidan from Marine drive. It will be like a show of strength against the state government too.
"All ward-level chiefs of the BJP have been directed orally to join the MNS rally along with its workers. Till now, there is no official announcement by the BJP that it will join the MNS rally," senior leader of BJP said.
"Thackeray is organising a march on a very important issue. What is wrong if any organisation voluntarily joins the MNS march?" asked Praveen Darekar, BJP leader and leader of the opposition in the legislative council. He was answering a question asked about BJP's support to MNS' march. His statement has clearly hinted BJP's participation in the MNS march.
After Shiv Sena snapped ties with the BJP, the latter is desperate to find a new partner in politics, keeping in mind the 2022 municipal elections in 10 cities, including Mumbai, Thane, and Nashik. BJP was upset with Raj due to his high-voltage campaign against Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha election. To silence Raj, an Enforecement Directorate notice was reportedly sent and it yielded positive result for BJP. In Assembly election, Raj was vary mild about BJP.
After the Uddhav Thackeray was sworn in as Chief Minister, BJP leaders appraoched Raj. As Raj too failed to make a mark in politics, has now decided to play right wing politics. MNS is now shifting to Hindutva track which will ultimately help him to join hands with BJP in future elections.
