With the Shiv Sena party aligning with the ideological rivals-Congress and NCP to form a government in the state of Maharashtra, the party’s erstwhile coalition partner-BJP met with the firebrand politician Raj Thackeray to canvass support for the recently legislated Citizenship Amendment Act.
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Quoting sources, Republic says, the MNS chief Raj Thackeray is looking to fill the pro-Hindutva void ceded by the Shiv Sena party after stitching up an alliance with Congress and the NCP. The Shiv Sena has been ambivalent about its support to the CAA-NRC, fearing backlash from its alliance partners and a possible fallout in the precarious Maharashtra state assembly.
As per the report, on Tuesday evening, former Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis met with the MNS chief Raj Thackeray at an undisclosed location and the meeting went for almost an hour and a half. Sources as reported by the Republic TV claim that Raj Thackeray will launch a major offensive on the Bangladeshis living in Mumbai on January 23 and might also make public his stand on the same day as the birth anniversary of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray.
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Earlier, Thackeray had been critical of the government’s move to enact the Citizenship Amendment Act, terming it as an action to distract the attention from the looming economic crisis in the country. Raj also mounted a searing attack on PM Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the 2019 General elections.
However, of late, Raj’s political party-MNS has been losing political ground as it struggles to maintain irrelevance in the political landscape of Maharashtra. In the recently concluded Maharashtra state assembly elections, the MNS won only one seat in the 288-member Vidhan Sabha. The decision to align with the BJP is seen by many as a lifeline to the party to redeem itself and arrest its declining political fortunes.