Another uncle vs nephew contest in Maharashtra? Raj Thackeray's MNS plans to challenge Aditya Thackeray in Worli

Maharashtra elections: MNS chief Raj Thackeray may field a candidate against his nephew Aditya from Worli

Maharashtra politics has several stories of bad blood between uncles and nephews. Raj Thackeray rebelled against his uncle Bal Thackeray and formed his own political party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in 2005. Last year, Ajit Pawar too rebelled against his uncle Sharad Pawar and joined the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra. The latest in the series is likely to be a confrontation between Raj Thackeray and his nephew Aditya Thackeray.

Uddhav Thackeray's son Aditya Thackeray made his debut in electoral politics by contesting the legislative assembly polls in 2019 from Worli. He is the first member from the Thackeray clan to contest an assembly election. Being considerate of family bonding over politics, Raj set aside his animosity with cousin Uddhav and announced that his party would not field any candidate against Aditya. Raj's decision helped consolidating the Marathi votes in favour of Aditya. Worli is predominantly populated by Marathi speaking voters.

Five years later, circumstances have changed. The acrimony between Raj and Uddhav is at its peak. The announcement by Raj Thackeray of unconditional support to the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls has discomforted Uddhav. In the public meetings, Uddhav has ridiculed Raj for his decision. Aditya also made certain unsavoury remarks against the MNS. The series of verbal attacks by the father-son duo has enraged Raj to a level that he has chosen to ignore family ties. As per sources in the MNS, Raj has asked his cadre to prepare for elections on over 100 seats, including Worli. The MNS is likely to field its leader Sandeep Deshpande on the seat. The MNS cadres have already become active in Worli. Raj Thackeray’s son Amit, who recently forayed into politics, has been visiting the area off late.

If MNS fields its candidate from the Worli seat, then the situation becomes precarious for Aditya. Worli is one of the six assembly segments of the South Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency. In the last Lok Sabha polls, the Shiv Sena (UBT) got a marginal lead from the Worli segment. It implies that all the Marathi votes didn't go to Sawant. With MNS in the fray more fragmentation is likely in the Marathi voter base. On the other hand, from the Mahayuti, BJP too is eyeing the seat. The constituency has a substantial amount of non-Marathi voters as well and the BJP is banking on them. As per the BJP's assessment, the Marathi votes will get divided between the Shiv Sena (UBT) and the MNS and the BJP will be at advantage.

The seat sharing talks in both the alliances will begin after the monsoon session of the Maharashtra legislature concludes in July. There will be a twist in the story if Aditya chooses to contest from a seat other than Worli.