States Polls and Result

[ramana]

Pioneer, op-Ed, 10/12/09

<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->FRONT PAGE | Monday, October 12, 2009 | Email | Print |


‘Supari’ slur sticks to Raj; Uddhav has edge

TN Raghunatha | Mumbai

As the feuding Thackeray cousins ready themselves for Tuesday’s electoral showdown on their home turf of Mumbai, it is becoming increasingly certain that the Raj Thackeray-led MNS will not be as effective as it was in the last Lok Sabha poll in spoiling the electoral prospects of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the nation’s commercial capital.

Though the ruling Congress-NCP alliance once again hopes to cash in on the division of Marathi votes in Mumbai, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is doing everything to counter the MNS efforts to cut into the saffron alliance’s traditional vote bank.

For the Thackeray cousins, Tuesday’s poll is extremely crucial. While Raj — whose party candidates polled more than 1 lakh votes in all the six Lok Sabha constituencies, thus helping the Congress-NCP alliance post a landslide victory in Mumbai - wants to prove that his party’s LS poll performance was not just a flash in the pan and that his is the real Sena, Uddhav is more than eager to call his estranged cousin’s bluff and regain its hold over the metropolis, where its party rules the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

If the Shiv Sena is not taking any chances, it is because the MNS — though it did not win any seats in the LS poll — effectively prevented the saffron alliance from winning any seat in the metropolis. Secondly, it outclassed the Shiv Sena by establishing a lead in five of the 36 Assembly segments in the city as against the lead established by the Shiv Sena in just two segments. The Assembly segment-wise performance of the MNS and the Sena should be seen in the light that while the Congress established lead in 23 segments, the BJP and NCP stood first in five seats and one seat respectively.

The Sena’s poor showing in the LS poll was mainly due to the presence of MNS candidates in the fray. The Sena leadership has not taken kindly to the MNS’ ability to play spoilsport.

<b>The Marathi-speaking people account for almost 37 per cent of the 1.14 crore population in Mumbai. No wonder that in his Assembly poll campaign, Uddhav has been carrying out all-out campaign against cousin Raj, exhorting the Maharashtrians not to vote the MNS as their vote would not benefit the Marathi cause but indirectly help the Congress. Uddhav openly accused Raj of having taken a “supari” (money) from the Congress to defeat the Sena-BJP alliance.</b>

So much so that during electioneering, the Shiv Sena christened Raj as “Supariman”. On his part, Raj came up with a weak denial, asking the Sena leadership as to how he could be accused of striking a “secret deal” with the Congress when it had chosen to share power with the NCP in the Pune Municipal Corporation and the Congress-led DF Government had withdrawn his police protection.

Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe, who coined the “Supariman” sobriquet for Raj, says: “We are better prepared than we were during the Lok Sabha poll. I do not think we will witness the same kind of division in Marathi votes. The MNS will not reach even a double-digit figure in the Assembly poll.”

Uddhav’s exhortation to Maharashtrians that they should not “waste” their vote by supporting the MNS is working. As Andheri-based longtime Shiv Sena sympathiser Raju Vernekar puts it: “The Shiv Sena will not be affected as much as it was in the Lok Sabha poll. The impression that I get from fellow Maharashtrians is that they have not appreciated the manner in which Raj divided the Marathi votes in the Lok Sabha poll.”

However, MPCC president Kripashankar Singh candidly admits that the Congress-NCP alliance would benefit from the division of Marathi votes. On whether the Congress will win 23 Assembly seats in Mumbai to maintain its Assembly segment-wise seat position in the Lok Sabha poll, Singh says: “We will win few seats more or less, but our overall performance will be the same.”

However, BJP’s Mumbai unit president Gopal Shetty disagrees with Singh: “All I can say is that disappointment awaits the Congress. The MNS factor will not affect us much.”

Besides, <b>the MNS’ rabid “pro-Marathi” and “anti-migrants” agenda has not just rubbed the North Indians settled in Mumbai the wrong way, it has also not gone down well with the Gujaratis, South Indians and other Marathi-speaking people settled in Mumbai.</b> Raj’s insistence on speaking in Marathi in interviews given to English television channels has not gone well with the “outsiders” in the metropolis.

The circulation of CDs carrying interviews by Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray — who looks hale and hearty after his prolonged illness — has also helped matters for the Shiv Sena.

However, not wanting to be caught in the crossfire in the ongoing tussle between the cousins, <b>the BJP — which is contesting 13 seats in Mumbai — has played it safe by putting up eight non-Maharashtrians as candidates. Simultaneously, the Shiv Sena — while trying to keep its Marathi vote bank intact — has also been trying to woo non-Maharashtrians — particularly Gujaratis, UPites, Biharis, South Indians and Rajasthanis — settled in Mumbai.</b> “Unlike that of the MNS, ours is an all-inclusive agenda. Though we espouse the cause of Marathi-speaking people, we respect people from other regions who have settled in this city,” says a senior Sena leader.

Raj Thackeray’s rigid “pro-Marathi” attitude is bothering his own party candidates. <b>Desperate as they are, the MNS candidates are reaching out to non-Maharashtrian voters by distributing English, Hindi and Gujarati pamphlets.</b>

<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->