Pune: A section of MVA members is weighing the option of giving seats to MNS from Shiv Sena (UBT)’s quota for the municipal corporation polls in Mumbai, Pune, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Nashik, amid opposition from Congress to the inclusion of Raj Thackeray’s party in the alliance.“We have started holding combined meetings to identify the seats which can be shared within our parties for the municipal polls. The talks are currently happening only between Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS office-bearers. Discussions with the other MVA partners would also be held,” Sanjay More, the Pune unit chief of Shiv Sena (UBT), said.Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, held a closed door meeting in Mumbai recently to finalise the seat sharing for the municipal polls. Following the meeting, the respective parties’ office-bearers in Mumbai, Thane, Kalyan-Dombivli and Nashik have been told to start discussions with each other at the local level. While both these parties have initiated the discussion, there has been no official proposal from any parties to include MNS in the MVA.The Thackeray cousins have initiated talks when Congress is opposing the inclusion of MNS in the MVA because of its aggressive stand against non-Marathi people. Maharashtra in-charge of Congress Ramesh Chennithala even announced recently that his party would go solo in Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls. The Mumbai Congress office-bearers later met NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar to get his support in the BMC elections.According to a senior Congress member, Pawar has been insisting the grand old party to take MNS along for the municipal polls. While Congress is still not ready for the entry of MNS in the MVA, the option of Shiv Sena (UBT) sharing its quota of seats with the MNS is being contemplated.“Some members of the MVA feel that the alliance should remain intact to avoid division of votes in municipal polls. While Congress is principally opposing the entry of MNS in the MVA, Raj’s party can share seats with our alliance partner Shiv Sena (UBT) without disturbing the alliance. Whatever seats are allotted to Uddhav’s party can be shared with MNS. The final decision on this option will be taken at the MVA coordination committee’s meeting,” another senior Congress member said.
