Follow Us
Shiv Kumar
Tribune News Service
Mumbai, August 23
Maharashtra Congress chief Balasaheb Thorat has come in for criticism from party colleagues for his strong support to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray who was grilled for more than eight hours by the Enforcement Directorate on Thursday.
Thorat and his predecessor Ashok Chavan along with Nationalist Congress Party leaders like Supriya Sule had accused the Narendra Modi government of targeting Thackeray for his campaign against the BJP during the Lok Sabha elections earlier this year.
A section of the Congress in Mumbai feels that Thorat and Chavan are pushing the party leadership to tie-up with Thackeray for the Assembly elections. “Raj Thackeray seems to have been promised an alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party for the coming Assembly elections,” a Congress leader told this reporter. According to him, several party colleagues are opposed to any tie-up with the MNS as it could drive the North Indian voters away from the Congress.
Some Congress leaders also felt that Raj Thackeray was a liability since the huge crowds which turned up at his rallies did not turn into vote-share for the secular alliance.
”It would be far better if Raj Thackeray contested on his own and let the MNS cut in to the votes of the BJP and the Shiv Sena,” another Congress leader said.
Incidentally, a section of the NCP is also opposed to bringing in the MNS into the fold of the secular alliance. Though party chief Sharad Pawar is seen as the brain behind Thackeray’s audio-visual campaign, several senior NCP leaders feel that the MNS leader’s rallies offered nothing more than entertainment value.