Maharashtra polls: Raj Thackeray holds secret talks with Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: Just a couple of days after he publicly hit out against the BJP in his campaign rally in Mumbai, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray had a secret meeting with Union Minister & BJP leader Nitin Gadkari in Amaravati (Vidarbha) on Tuesday.

This meeting was a clear indication that Raj Thackeray was keeping all his political options open and may get into an agreement with any party after the polls in Maharashtra.

For Raj Thackeray, the upcoming assembly election in the state is going to be a make or break situation. In the last assembly polls Raj’s Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) made an impressive debut winning 13 seats.

Raj managed to get 2.5% votes all across the state in those elections. But in Lok Sabha 2014 polls, Raj managed to get just 0.13% votes and all his candidates lost their security deposit.

Now if Raj manages to get more than 15 seats in the state assembly, he can negotiate with one of the bigger players and get some gains for his elected MLAs, however if he gets less than 10 seats, then his political future would be uncertain in the state.

In that sense it’s a very crucial election for Raj. “Raj would be open to getting into an understanding with the Shiv Sena if the Sena falls short of some seats to form the government. He is keeping his options open.

The Sena feels that they would get just a little over 100 seats and may need allies. So the Sena is also getting close to Raj and testing the waters,” former Sena MP Bharatkumar Raut told ET.

But on Tuesday, away from the attention of Mumbai’s media, Raj chose to meet BJP leader Gadkari at a private hotel in Amrawati and hold talks in private. Raj and Gadkari had met at a hotel in Mumbai just before the Lok Sabha polls too. That triggered speculation about the BJP being close to the MNS but the BJP did not need MNS’s help after the Lok Sabha polls.

Now the BJP feels that after its breakup with the Shiv Sena it should keep smaller players warm so that some agreement can be managed with them after the polls in case the BJP is in a position to form the government in Maharashtra. Raj has fielded candidates in 232 constituencies in the state and most of them would be mainly eating into Shiv Sena’s votes.