"We know Raj is no more powerful as he was during the 2009 polls, when MNS had split Shiv Sena votes, but his decision to contest will help the Congress in a big way. Now, we are tension-free,'' a senior Congress minister told TOI.
The minister said it was known that owing to the presence of MNS nominees in the fray, the Congress-NCP was able to win all six Lok Sabha seats here. "Now that MNS nominees are in the fray, we are sure, we will repeat our 2009 performance, even though the MNS may not put up candidates where BJP nominees are contesting,'' he said.
In 2009, Congress nominees Milind Deora, Eknath Gaikwad, Priya Dutt, Gurudas Kamat and Sanjay Nirupam and NCP's Sanjay Dina Patil won due to MNS nominees in the fray.
NCP national spokesperson Nawab Malik, too, admitted that the MNS decision would benefit the front. "It's a tactical alliance between MNS and BJP. For BJP, it was not possible to join hands with MNS, as it would have resulted in an adverse impact on the poll outcome in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in view of Raj's stand against people from those states,'' Malik said.
Malik said, prima facie, owing to the weak leadership of Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, BJP was looking for new partners in the state.
Malik said Maharashtra will witness the politics of revenge, MNS will work overtime to defeat Sena nominees, and one should not be surprised if the Sena makes all efforts to defeat BJP nominees.
The Congress minister said there was uneasy calm in the organization ever since BJP leader Nitin Gadkari secretly met Raj on poll strategy. It was believed that in view of the friendship between the two, Raj would oblige the BJP. Gadkari's contention was that if MNS does not contest, there will be a less split in Sena votes, and the saffron combine will be able to improve its performance compared to 2009.
"Gadkari's mission miserably failed and he was at the receiving end for exceeding his brief," he said.
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