MNS said that they have not made any proposal to ally with the Congress and they only participated in the rally with Congress to protest vote theft
Mumbai: Congress continues to be in a dilemma over joining hands with the MNS for the upcoming municipal polls in Maharashtra with Congress leader Sachin Sawant admitting there are ideological differences with the Raj Thackeray-led party.
“Congress is a party that runs on ideology. They (MNS) and we have had differences. There are ideological differences. We have conveyed our feelings about the MNS to the party high command and a decision is yet to be taken at the central level regarding Mumbai. The overall decision-making process of the central leadership involves discussions with local leaders. Therefore, we will wait for their decision,” said Mr. Sawant.
However, the Congress leader hinted that the party might take different decisions at the local level. “While the state leadership has ruled out any tie-up with the MNS, local leaders will retain the freedom to assess their electoral strength and decide on alliances for the civic polls, with an emphasis on the party’s capacity to contest independently,” he said.
The Congress leadership believes that any association with the MNS, known for its open anti-North Indian and anti-minority stance, would be politically damaging, particularly with the Bihar elections approaching.
Interestingly, Congress and MNS had participated in the opposition parties’ rally last week to protest alleged irregularities in the state's voter lists. This was the first time the Congress shared the stage with the MNS. The joint ‘Satyacha Morcha’ (March for Truth) saw top opposition leaders, Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Congress's Balasaheb Thorat and Raj Thackeray share stage, raising concern about what they called a “systematic attempt to steal votes and destroy democracy.”
Meanwhile, the MNS said that they have not made any proposal to ally with the Congress and they only participated in the rally with Congress to protest vote theft. “Vote theft is a different issue and contesting together is a different issue. While all these things are happening, we have not given any proposal to the Congress. The Congress has also not given any proposal. Currently, we are fighting against vote theft,” said MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande.
