India
Raj Thackeray could play key role after polls in Maharashtra: Bala Nandgaonkar – Times of India
Raj Thackeray (PTI file photo)
Both the MNS and its leader Raj Thackeray will rise much higher politically in the near future, he claimed.
The MNS won 13 parliamentary seats (out of 288) in the 2009 elections, the first state elections after the party came into existence. In the 2019 state polls, the MNS won one seat.
The party backed the ruling Mahayuti in the Lok Sabha polls earlier this year but will contest the November 20 elections. Maharashtra Assembly Elections independent.
“In these elections itself, you will see that several people will sit at home (will be defeated) and good people will enter politics. Raj Thackeray could also play a key role in new balance of power after these Assembly elections,” said former four-term MLA. Nandgaonkar told PTI at the MNS office in Lalbaug in central Mumbai.
Nandgaonkar is pitted against Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate and sitting MLA Ajay Choudhari, who is seeking a third term.
Choudhari defeated Nandgaonkar in the 2014 Assembly elections.
Campaigning while wheelchair-bound due to a broken leg, Nandgaonkar said he has reached 70 percent of the constituency through door-to-door visits.
His daughter Srushti continues the door-to-door campaign, addressing voters from downstairs in buildings using a loudspeaker.
Asked whether North Indians will vote for him because of his party’s past stand against them, Nandgaonkar said North Indians in his constituency need not worry.
“We respect everyone and will continue to do so. I wanted to respectfully tell them, especially the North Indians, not to worry at all. Until Bala Nandgaonkar comes, there is no need to worry,” he asserted.
He said their stand was not against the people of UP, Bihar or other states and their past agitation did not harm anyone in the constituency.
Nandgaonkar further said that their stand was that the facilities should first go to those who have lived in the city for generations and then to others.
Shivadi constituency, part of the Girangaon mill district and traditionally a Marathi stronghold, has seen a significant increase in its North Indian and Gujarati-Marwadi population over the past two decades.
Some parts of the assembly segment also have a Muslim population.
Asked whether Muslims would vote for him in view of the MNS protest a few years ago against loudspeakers blaring ‘azaan’ and his pro-Hindutva stand, Nandgaon said this is a party-level issue and not a factor in the constituency.
Nandgaonkar earned the reputation of a ‘giant killer’ when, while first contesting as a Shiv Sena candidate, he defeated political heavyweight Chhagan Bhujbal from the Mazgaon assembly seat in 1995.
He is contesting his sixth parliamentary election and the third from Shivadi, where he contested in 2009 but lost in 2014.
When asked how confident he is of victory, Nandgaonkar said he is confident that his fate is in the hands of the voters.
“People decide who they will win or defeat. That time too, people had decided that I should win and defeat Bhujabal Sahab,” the MNS leader said.
When faced with election from the constituency after a gap of ten years, Nandgaonkar said he had always been in touch with the voters even during the Covid-19 period.
“Even though I did not contest the elections, I was always with the people and that is why they respect me with love,” Nandgaonkar said.
Nandgoankar said he has prepared the development blueprint of the constituency called “Katibaddha”.
Asked whether people would believe in it as his party’s ‘blueprint’ never came to the fore, he said the MNS had prepared a blueprint with five key issues and other problems of Maharashtra and people are aware of it.
“It is true that after eight years of efforts we had brought the blueprint and on the same day the alliance between Shiv Sena and BJP was broken,” Nandgaonkar said.
