The estranged cousins: Shiv Sena’s Uddhav Thackeray and MNS’ Raj Thackeray are locked in a verbal dual over the prospect of MNS being added to the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance.

 

Adressing a rally in Pune on Sunday, the MNS chief Raj Thackeray blamed Sena president Uddhav Thackeray of blocking his party's entry, as proposed by the state BJP, into the saffron alliance. Rubbishing Raj’s claim, Uddhav said on Monday that this was  the idea of one prominent BJP leader (Nitin Gadkari) not the entire Maharashtra BJP.

 

The diatribes traded between Uddhav and Raj will further erode the saffron alliance's credibility among voters, experts opined. The BJP has refrained to speak on the issue.  Alleging Uddhav of playing spoil sports Raj said the BJP leaders were pregnant with the idea of including MNS in the saffron alliance.

 

Uddhav revealed that BJP heavyweights Rajnath Singh and Rajiv Pratap Rudy had mollified the Sena following reports of a senior BJP leader trying to get the MNS into the alliance to avoid a split in anti-incumbency votes in the state, much against the Sena's wish. Uddhav said there was no need to have the MNS as an ally as there was no threat of a split in anti-incumbency votes because of the Modi wave.