The Maha Picture | Is Mahayuti Govt Seeking a Fourth Maharashtra Partner Before the Lok Sabha Elections?

In the lead-up to the Lok Sabha Elections of 2024, is the Maharashtra administration, known as the “Mahayuti,” searching for a fourth ally? The main concern is that the Bharatiya Janata Party is reaching out to smaller regional parties like the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) while having powerful allies like the Shiv Sena and NCP. Although the Ajit Pawar-led National Congress was not seen to be weak before it entered the picture, the arrival of the NCP has strengthened the Mahayuti administration in the polls.

But Ajit Pawar and the NCP have been given the task of taking over the Western Maharashtra region and penetrating rural Maharashtra, an area where the BJP is weak. However, rumors are circulating that the BJP is considering enlisting Raj Thackeray and his party, which has led to the conjecture that there is another scheme in the works.

Since the beginning of MNS, Raj Thackery and his party have brought up the subject of “Marathi Manus” (son of the land). The people of Maharashtra responded well to the MNS in its early years. Eleven MNS MLAs prevailed in the 2009 state assembly election. With just one MLA from the party winning an assembly seat, MNS was unable to replicate the success in the Maharashtra assembly elections in 2014 and 2019.

This raises the issue of why the BJP desired MNS’s inclusion in this coalition. MNS is not new to taking a “anti-North Indian” stance. The MNS, headed by Raj Thackeray, has been seen adopting a strong stance against North Indians seeking employment in Mumbai and Maharashtra. MNS assaulted and vandalized North Indian retailers in many Maharashtra locations in 2008. They went so far as to criticize “Chhath Puja,” which is observed widely across Mumbai.

In pursuit of his objective, Raj Thackeray has also singled out Bollywood actor Amitabh Bachchan for his support of Uttar Pradesh and economic dealings with the government. Thackeray remarked that Bachchan’s whole grandeur, renown, and popularity came from the Mumbai film business.

Although the Marathi young have supported Raj Thackeray for his anti-north Indian stance, this support did not translate into votes after the 2009 election. Even still, Raj Thackeray continues to draw large crowds to his rallies.

The sources claim that Raj Thackeray wants to be the fourth member of the “Mahayuti” cabinet because the BJP wants to reduce Uddhav Thackeray’s support and votes in the state. With Raj Thackeray’s backing, the BJP, whose primary supporters in the state are Brahmins and north Indians, is attempting to draw Marathi youngsters to certain areas of Mumbai, Nasik, and Thane. However, throughout the last few years, Raj has been known to fully endorse Hinduism. As such, the BJP will find it easier to defend their decision to team up with Raj Thackeray in the state.

But, since the scars from 2008 are still raw in their memories, some voters from North India may suffer harm in the process. The issue of whether the BJP has enough confidence in the Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s ability to get Marathi votes for their coalition was also highlighted by their consideration of enlisting Raj Thackeray. The sources claim that the reason the BJP included the NCP in this coalition was because the party lacked confidence in Shinde’s ability to get enough votes from rural regions to fulfill its goal of 400+ seats in the Lok Sabha. Since the party split, Uddhav Thackeray’s wing has gained support, which the Shinde-led Sena has not yet been able to undermine.

Although the BJP and MNS have not made any public announcements on their partnership, Raj Thackeray’s visit to Amit Shah in Delhi is being seen as a significant move. According to insiders, Raj Thackeray has made it clear that he intends to run for one seat in the next Lok Sabha election and that the BJP will assist him in the subsequent Maharashtra Assembly elections this year. According to sources, Raj Thackeray could also request that his party be given a seat in South Mumbai. Rahul Narwekar, the head of the BJP, has already begun his preparations for the Shiv Sena UBT seat, which is currently held by them. If MNS wins this seat in such a situation, it could not go down well with the BJP’s core supporters in the South Mumbai area. In the 2009 Lok Sabha Election, the MNS secured the second position, while in the 2014 and 2019 elections, it ranked third. The BJP has considerable local support even though they did not run for office in the 2014 or 2019 elections since they were in an alliance with the Shiv Sena, which is still united. In the event that MNS wins this constituency, it may affect the number of BJP seats in South Mumbai in the state assembly elections.