Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis received leaders of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) at his official residence on Tuesday. India Today TV was informed by sources that the discussions were about the impending Lok Sabha elections.
Raj Thackeray has tasked MNS leaders Bala Nandgaonkar, Sandip Deshpande, and Nitin Sardesai with more talks, most likely centered on seat-sharing, according to sources.
The seat-sharing plan is still being kept under wraps, though. Maharashtra is anticipated to cast two ballots in the assembly election and the Lok Sabha election this year.
There are 288 assembly constituencies and 48 Lok Sabha seats in the state. The Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), the BJP, and Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena make up the ruling Mahayuti alliance.
Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis was met on Tuesday at his official residence by members of Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), including Bala Nandgaonkar, Sandip Deshpande, and Nitin Sardesai. The subject matter of the talks was the upcoming Lok Sabha elections. MNS Chief Thackeray tasked the three with investigating possible arrangements for seat-sharing, though details are still unknown.
The head of the MNS claimed that Sharad Pawar has consistently taken a “pro-Narendra Modi” position since 2014 and forecasted that the Sharad Pawar camp will join the state government after the Ajit Pawar group. The MNS and the three-party alliance at the helm would benefit if Raj Thackeray accepted the BJP offer, according to prominent Shiv Sena member Sanjay Shirsat and others. However, MLA Rohit Pawar of the NCP, who is Sharad Pawar’s grand-nephew, dismissed the MNS leader’s prediction.
Raj Thackeray went on to say that he spoke with party leaders and workers about the 2024 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, but he expressed skepticism about the likelihood of the scheduled civic elections taking place anytime soon given the state’s current political climate.
In light of contested internal organizational elections, the Election Commission observed that the Ajit Pawar faction was able to secure the NCP symbol with the aid of the “test of legislative majority.” The ruling was made in accordance with the established criteria for whether or not a petition of this kind could be maintained. These criteria included party constitution tests, organizational and legislative majority tests, and party goals and objectives tests. In this case, the legislative wing’s test of majority was found to be favorable, noting that both groups were found to be operating outside of the party constitution and organizational elections.
On Tuesday, a leader of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) gave party chief Raj Thackeray a brick that he had brought back after the Ayodhya Babri Masjid was demolished in December 1992.
According to previous reports, party chief Bala Nand Gaonkar asserted that Raj Thackrey was the ideological heir of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackrey. On December 6, 1992, right wing groups demolished the Babri Masjid which dates back on 16th century.
