MUMBAI: Despite BJP’s insistence, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his party candidate Sada Sarvankar have refused to withdraw from the Mahim assembly constituency to enable MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s son Amit to join a direct fight against Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate Milind Sawant.
Several top BJP leaders, including deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, state party chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule, and party’s national general secretary Vinod Tawade have urged Shinde to get Sarvankar to withdraw. They cited Raj Thackeray’s unconditional support to the MahaYuti in the recent Lok Sabha polls for reciprocity.
“I discussed the poll strategy with Raj. He told me that the three constituents of MahaYuti should decide first. However, they directly fielded their candidates. I also spoke to our party candidate. I think party workers and leaders should be heard. We should not let the morale of party workers down,” said Shinde.
“We have a firm alliance of Shiv Sena, BJP and NCP Ajit Pawar. We also have RPI’s Athavale and Jan Suraaj on our side. We will win with a majority,” said Shinde.
Sources in his party said that Shinde was not happy with Raj Thackeray after his recent statement that the next chief minister will be from the BJP. “It is because of this hurt that Shinde has not conceded his party seat to the MNS and is giving BJP a tough time,” said Sena leader.
A source close to Raj said he had campaigned for Shinde’s son in the Lok Sabha elections in Kalyan. If Sarvankar does not withdraw on the last day of withdrawal on November 4, then a bipolar contest in Mahim will turn multi-polar which will only damage Amit Thackeray’s prospects,” he added.