Boon for BJP as MNS to contest only 10 seats

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which was worried about the adverse impact of the presence of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in the general elections, appears relieved as the Raj Thackeray-led party is contesting only 10 of the 48 seats in the state.

The MNS has nominated its candidates to only 10 Lok Sabha seats in the state, and eight of them are battling Shiv Sena nominees. BJP candidates in Maharashtra are largely unaffected as the MNS has avoided putting up its nominees against them.

In the 2009 general elections, the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), comprising the BJP and the Shiv Sena, managed to win just 20 of the 48 seats (11 by the Shiv Sena and nine by the BJP), thanks to the presence of the MNS. The worst affected by the MNS presence was the Shiv Sena, which lost nine seats (including five in Mumbai) because of the split in votes among Maharashtrian voters.

In the run-up to the 2014 general elections, former BJP president Nitin Gadkari met Thackeray and urged him not to put up candidates against the NDA.

Gadkari’s initiative was snubbed by Uddhav Thackeray, the Shiv Sena chief and estranged cousin of Raj. The MNS backs Narendra Modi as the NDA’s prime ministerial candidate, and Raj himself is an ardent Modi fan. Tensions between the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra unit of the BJP have been strained after the Gadkari-Thackeray meet.

nithin@khaleejtimes.com

• India