Amid the fast-changing political landscape in Maharashtra, a poster has cropped up asking the two warring Thackeray cousins—Uddhav and Raj—to unite.
The poster has been put up by local MNS leader Laxman Patil in the Dadar area of Mumbai. However, Uddhav, the head of Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj, the President of MNS, have not reacted to it.
The poster has a photo of Uddhav and Raj together with the late Balasaheb Thackeray, the Shiv Sena founder.
Uddhav and Raj are the son and nephew of the late Balasaheb, and both were tutored in politics by the Sena founder. However, in 2005, Raj walked out of Shiv Sena and founded the MNS on 9 March, 2006.
Asked about the poster, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar said that he had tried his level best. “Over the years I had tried to get them to come together in the interests of Maharashtra…but that has not happened. It is now up to the people of Maharashtra,” he said.
However, when questioned, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief spokesperson Sanjay Raut said: “The people of Maharashtra are with us, and they will always stay with us. People are going to support us.”
The poster comes in the wake of the developments in the NCP, where Ajit Pawar rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar to join the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis led Shiv Sena-BJP government, adding his faction of the NCP to it.