Uddhav, Raj Likely to Announce BMC Pact Today

Mumbai:After days of deliberations, the Thackeray cousins are on the verge of joining hands. Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray are likely to formally announce their alliance on Wednesday for the municipal corporation polls in Maharashtra.

The alliance between the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will be made at 12 noon on Wednesday, said Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut said on Tuesday. He also shared on X a photograph of the formerly estranged cousins greeting each other. They will formally announce the alliance by 12.30 pm, Raut said on Tuesday.

According to sources, the seat-sharing formula to contest the BMC election is that the Uddhav-led Sena will contest around 150 seats out of a total 227 wards in Mumbai, while the MNS will contest around 65 to 70 seats, leaving the remaining seats for the Sharad Pawar-led NCP, which is likely to ally with the Thackeray cousins.

The NCP (SP) is in talks with the Ajit Pawar-led NCP to contest the Pune municipal elections together, which may create obstacles in their ties with the Thackeray cousins. Shiv Sena (UBT)’s another ally Congress has already made it clear that it will fight the BMC elections alone.

If the alliance happens, it would mean that for the first time since 2006, when Raj stepped away from the undivided Shiv Sena and formed the MNS, the two Thackerays will engage in election campaigning as a team. On July 5, the two brothers shared a stage in public for the first time in nearly two decades, at a rally in Worli to celebrate the Mahayuti government’s decision to roll back its controversial order introducing Hindi as a third language in primary schools across Maharashtra, following protests by the two parties. On July 27, he also visited Uddhav Thackeray to wish him on his birthday.

Meanwhile, the BJP has been quick to dismiss the potential partnership. BJP’s Mumbai city unit president Ameet Satam stated that any tie-up between the two cousins would have ‘no impact’ on the election results.

“I believe Mumbaikars have made up their mind to support the BJP-led Mahayuti, and the mayor will be elected from our corporators only,” Satam said.

BJP spokesperson Navnath Ban said the alliance was not born out of the people’s trust, but out of fear of defeat.“This alliance is not a meeting of minds, but a reflection of deep differences. It is an act of coming together only for elections, by drawing a curtain over ideological disagreements, leadership egos and past bitterness. But Mumbaikars will reject this political drama,” said Ban.

Polling for 29 municipal corporations is scheduled for January 15, with counting to take place on January 16.