Add thelocalreport.in As A Trusted Source
Mumbai, Oct 24 (IANS) Amid the opposition parties’ ongoing campaign against alleged vote rigging in Maharashtra, Shiv Sena-UBT have called a meeting of party officials in Worli on October 27 to review the preparations and chalk out a strategy for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation elections.
Shiv Sena-UBT chief Uddhav Thackeray will address the meeting, during which he is expected to give suggestions on carefully checking the voter list and maintaining strict vigil to avoid “fake voting” in the upcoming BMC elections.
Terming the meeting as ‘nirdhar’ (resolved) to win the BMC elections, Thackeray is also likely to announce the much talked about alliance with his cousin Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the BMC elections to defeat the BJP-led grand alliance.
Sources in the Thackeray camp said, “The October 27 meeting is important and will be attended by party officials and branch heads from across Mumbai. Uddhav Thackeray will guide the office-bearers about the strategy for the upcoming BMC elections and send a strong message that they should be alert to avoid scams in the voter list.”
The meeting also assumes significance as there is growing rapprochement between estranged brothers Uddhav and Raj Thackeray as they have joined hands together to oppose the Maharashtra government’s move to introduce Hindi as a compulsory language along with Marathi and Hindi from class one. He held a victory rally on 5 July after the state government withdrew two government resolutions on Hindi “imposition”.
The two announced that they have come together after almost 20 years to live together in the future, and also hinted at an alliance in the BMC elections.
The two cousins have met 10 times since July 5 but have not yet made any formal announcement regarding the alliance for the BMC elections.
Uddhav Thackeray’s move to interact with office-bearers and branch heads is also relevant as Raj Thackeray had addressed a meeting of booth-level agents of MNS on October 19, and exhorted them to keep an eye on the voter list and curb “fake voting”.
Raj Thackeray alleged that the Election Commission has added 96 lakh fake voters in the voter list of Maharashtra.
He asked the Election Commission to postpone the local and civic body elections until the voter list is “purified” to the satisfaction of all political parties.
Raj Thackeray alleged that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had also accused the Election Commission of bias. He said, “When BJP was in opposition, it used to make the same allegations against the Election Commission.”
Moreover, the meeting of the Thackeray camp to be held on October 27 coincides with Congress MLA Bhai Jagtap’s announcement that the party will contest the BMC elections alone as it does not want to forge an alliance with the Uddhav Thackeray-led party and MNS.
Similarly, Samajwadi Party has also expressed its intention to contest BMC elections independently. Due to the announcements of Congress and MNS, cracks have come to the fore within Maha Vikas Aghadi.
–IANS
sj/svn