Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai

Mumbai, Sep 14: The possibility of a political alliance between Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) and Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is gaining momentum, with the brothers meeting four times in the last two months. Family-level interactions and political discussions have sparked speculation that a tie-up could be formalised before the upcoming local body elections.

The rapprochement began over a joint platform for the Marathi language. Raj visited Uddhav at Matoshree on his birthday, and Uddhav reciprocated with two visits to Raj’s residence, Shiv Tirtha, including a recent two-and-a-half-hour discussion involving both families.

Seat-sharing talks, however, remain a sticking point. MNS is demanding a 50–50 split in the six Assembly constituencies it won in 2009 and a 40–60 formula in other seats, while Shiv Sena argues that the 2009 results are outdated. MNS has not won a single Assembly seat in Mumbai since 2014, while in the 2017 BMC elections Shiv Sena secured 84 seats to MNS’s seven.

Uddhav’s faction faces stiff competition from the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Sena, which enjoys government backing. With both Uddhav and Raj drawing support from the same Marathi-speaking strongholds, negotiations on seat distribution could determine whether the long-divided Thackeray cousins can unite against common rivals.