Uddhav did not respond to alliance offer: Raj

THE HINDU 21-8-2012 MUMBAI:MNS chief Raj Thackeray organised the rally at Azad Maidan in Mumbai on Tuesday. to protest against the perpetrators of the August 11 attack on police and media. Picx by SHASHI ASHIWAL

After the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) called off its 25-year-old alliance with the Shiv Sena in Maharashtra, speculation has been rife about whether the split will bring the estranged Thackeray cousins back together. In the election campaign so far, both Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray have focussed their fire on the BJP, rather than each other.

On Thursday, Raj Thackeray revealed in a television interview that he had spoken to Uddhav Thackeray on the night the saffron alliance split and the latter had suggested an understanding between them before the polls. However, subsequently he got no response from the Shiv Sena and decided to contest alone, he said.

Mr. Thackeray said he was approached by a functionary from the Shiv Sena newspaper Saamna suggesting the cousins come together and that Mr. Uddhav Thackeray was waiting for his call. He later connected the cousins on the telephone.

“Uddhav was upset and said the BJP had betrayed him. I asked what he planned to do. He suggested three options. That we hold talks; not attack each other during the campaign or have discussions after the polls,” Mr. Raj Thackeray said in the interview. He claimed they delegated the next stage of talks to second-rung leaders.

However, later Shiv Sena leaders did not respond to the MNS, he said. “My leaders kept calling them but got no response, so finally we went ahead and distributed nomination forms,” Mr. Raj Thackeray said.

Blames Shiv Sena

Blaming the Shiv Sena for spurning alliance talks, he said, “I feel ego and differences should be set aside for the future of Maharashtra but this is the way I was treated.”

Yet he left the door open for future negotiations by saying, “My main adversaries are the Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party and the BJP.” The Shiv Sena has already made it clear that it wanted to seek votes on its own strength in this election. In an interview to The Hindu , Mr. Uddhav Thackeray said he wanted to avoid a split in the Marathi vote.

In response to Mr. Raj Thackeray’s comments, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut said, “Things will be clearer after the poll results. I am sure Raj Thackeray is thinking about the future of Maharashtra.”