MNS feels jitters in fort ahead of polls

If the high-profile drama earlier this week in the city involving local Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leaders is any indication, the party is in dire straits in its most powerful bastion in the run-up to the assembly elections. Notwithstanding the ongoing fire-fighting measures, it could trigger the beginning of the MNS' downfall.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray is in the fire-fighting mode ever since the Lok Sabha elections, in which the MNS could not even open its account.The crucial revelation was that even in the constituencies of three MNS MLAs in the city, the BJP-Sena Lok Sabha candidate got leading votes while the MNS nominee lost his deposit.
After the Lok Sabha polls, Thackeray made some drastic organisational changes in Nashik - like changing the party's city unit president, appointing a special leader for liaison and another one as the spokesperson. For Thackeray, who has announced that he would himself contest the coming assembly elections, Nashik is his party's strongest bastion, where it has come to power for the first time. Nashik is also one of the cities under consideration for Thackeray to contest the assembly polls to realise his dream of becoming the chief minister.
However, the organisational changes have boomeranged, with senior leaders getting slighted in the process. The most important face is MLA and former mayor Vasant Gite - a leader with mass-base and widely accepted sobre image - who is also a general secretary of the party. In happier days, Thackeray used to receive a rousing welcome in the Mumbai Naka locality (which is Gite's area) and stay at another general secretary Atul Chandak's hotel. In the changed situation, he stays at the government rest house at Golf Club.
Incidentally, among the new office-bearers who have gained importance is MNS MLA Uttamrao Dhikale's son Rahul - the new city president as well as the chairperson of the NMC's standing committee.
When Thackeray came on a two-day visit earlier this week to salvage the damage done and consolidate his party's organisational structure, the obvious happened. Gite as well as Chandak were conspicuous by their absence. Gite had called in sick, while Chandak was reportedly out of town.
Thackeray, who had camped overnight, sent three emissaries the next morning to meet Gite, who was escorted to the guest house. There was a brief discussion between Thackeray and Gite behind closed doors for about 10 minutes. After the interaction, a visibly upset Thackeray left the guest house in a huff and esntered his car to leave for Mumbai. Gite later came out to tell mediapersons that all was well. Chandak, on the other hand, called the media to say that he was out of station.
The whole episode manifested the seriousness of squabbles within the MNS. The bickering has come at a time when the party is preparing for the ensuing assembly elections due in the next three months. It is only in Nashik that the MNS is in power and has nothing significant to showcase as its achievement over the past two years. In a recent civic byelection, the MNS lost its seat in ward no 61 to the Shiv Sena, reducing its tally by one.
Moreover, the MNS-BJP alliance in the NMC is not just on the rocks but an allout war has ensued. The changing political equations between the MNS and the BJP were clear in the election of the Standing Committee chairperson last week, when the allies contested against each other. The MNS candidate Rahul Dhikale defeated BJP-Shiv Sena-RPI nominee Ranjana Bhansi by one vote. Dhikale was supported by an independent, while members of Congress and NCP abstained from voting.
The outgoing chairperson belonged to the MNS and the BJP was expecting that the MNS would support its candidate as both parties are allies in the NMC. However, the MNS managed to retain the post for the second successive year, much to the chagrin of the BJP. The BJP leaders have now staked claim for the mayoral post.
Considering the inter-party and intra-party developments, the MNS faces tough times ahead.