Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis’ visit to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray’s new residence Shivteerth at Dadar sparked a buzz about two parties fighting upcoming BMC elections together against Shiv Sena. Even though BJP and MNS have yet to take a call on a possible tie-up, the bonhomie between the leaders of the two parties has increased. Incidentally, both the parties quite often are targeting the Shiv Sena and Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government on common issues.
Fadnavis, who was accompanied by his wife Amruta, was seen chatting with Raj Thackeray and his Sharmila in the balcony of the MNS president’s house.
BJP office-bearers have called it a cordial family meeting. However, the political analysts observed it is important in the run up to the upcoming BMC elections. BJP has already announced Mission 2022 with a resolve to defeat Shiv Sena and win the mayoral and deputy mayoral elections. The party has claimed a corruption of Rs 3 lakh crore in the Shiv Sena-controlled BMC in the last 25 years.
MNS is also quite critical about the BMC and has levelled corruption charges.
As far as BJP is concerned, the party, which in the 2017 BMC polls, had made giant strides in the Shiv Sena bastion by winning 82 seats fighting elections independently, plans not only to improve its tally but unseat the erstwhile ally.
