‘Sena was ready to support Raj’s son in Bhandup’

Mumbai: A day after the high drama over the Mahim constituency ended with Shiv Sena MLA Sada Sarvankar not withdrawing his nomination, the Sena stated that instead of Mahim, the Bhandup West constituency would have been a better option for MNS chief Raj Thackeray's son, Amit Thackeray, for his electoral debut. Sena functionary Kiran Pawaskar, who is Sena's in-charge for Mumbai, said some MNS functionaries had suggested Bhandup West as a safer seat for Amit, and it would have been a much easier seat than Mahim, which is now seeing a three-way fight between Sarvankar, Amit, and Sena (UBT)'s Mahesh Sawant.
The Sena was willing to give up the Bhandup assembly seat for Raj's son, Amit Thackeray, but talks stopped, and MNS announced Amit's name from Mahim, a senior Sena functionary privy to the discussions said. "Based on surveys and internal assessment, we had offered the Bhandup seat to MNS for Amit. Later, Raj Thackeray's statement that the next CM will be from BJP also added to the friction, and talks stalled," the functionary said.
Pawaskar, who was part of talks with MNS functionaries last month, told TOI, "The Bhandup seat (for Amit Thackeray) was suggested by an MNS functionary itself. Given the demographic profile and community mix, Bhandup was a much better seat for the MNS. It has a large population of Marathi, Konkani voters. But the MNS never discussed with us in detail and directly announced their candidates. If the MNS was to be taken on board, then the Sena, BJP and NCP, all three Mahayuti parties, would have to be consulted, and that never happened."
"If the MNS had had a detailed discussion on Bhandup, we could have left Bhandup for them just like we left Sewri for Bala Nandgaonkar. But the MNS never spoke to us after some initial talks. We couldn't give up Mahim as we have a three-time sitting MLA who has stayed by us in tough times. CM Eknath Shinde has said in the assembly that making sure all his 40 MLAs get elected is his responsibility, and he is keeping his word. In Bhandup, we don't have a sitting MLA, so we could have given it up for MNS, for Amit Thackeray. But talks never materialised. If you go by merit, Bhandup is a much safer and easier seat than Mahim," Pawaskar said.
The Shiv Sena (UBT)'s Ramesh Korgaonkar is the sitting MLA from the Bhandup seat. In 2019, he defeated the MNS's Sandeep Jalgaonkar. The Sena has now fielded former MLA Ashok Patil from Bhandup. The MNS has fielded Shirish Sawant from Bhandup West this time. In the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, MVA's Sanjay Dina Patil led by 3,458 votes in the Bhandup West assembly segment.