With increasing buzz about a possible political alliance between the Thackeray cousins, the Maharashtra Congress has expressed reluctance to join hands with any party that has a polarisation agenda.
Constitutional values and secularism are non-negotiables for the Congress, the party’s State chief Harshwardhan Sapkal told The Hindu when asked about the possibility of a partnership with Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. “We are strictly against polarisation... If someone wants to be a part of the alliance, they will have to agree with Constitutional values,” he said, though he made it clear that there has not yet been any proposal for the MNS to join the alliance.
He emphasised that any decision on partnership with the MNS is not up to the Congress alone, nor is it a call for the Maha Vikas Aghadi, a State-level alliance of the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar), and the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT). “If any new alliance partner is to be added to the political equation in Maharashtra, all the INDIA bloc parties will have to sit together and take a call on it,” Mr. Sapkal insisted.
Thackeray cousins’ bonhomie
Mr. Sapkal’s remarks gain significance against the backdrop of the growing proximity between Mr. Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Mr. Raj Thackeray, ahead of local body elections which are soon to be announced in Maharashtra.
