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Congress-MNS alliance may prove to be counterproductive for the party
By IndianMandarins- 14 Jul 2019
700New Delhi: The Congress has
appointed a new president for Maharashtra as Balasaheb Thorat who is in favour
of alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the Assembly
elections in the state along with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which is
stronger than the Congress at the moment at least the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
suggests so. Such indications of Congress-MNS
alliance started being talked about when MNS chief Raj Thackerey met with
United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi recently. Apparently the
entire move is to counter the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state which has
decimated the Congress-NCP alliance in the state. Now, on the other hand All
India Majlish-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has told the Vanchit Bahujan Agadi
(VBA) headed by Prakash Ambedkar to contest 100 Assembly seats out of 288 seats
in the state. This is to remind that instead of
managing its own support base, the Congress attempt to steal into the vote
banks of other political parties might prove to be counter-productive. Dalits
and Muslims had been the core vote bank of the Congress for very long time
besides a few other sections in Maharashtra but a new social engineering of
Assaduddin Owaisi and Preakash Ambedkar has brought Dalits and Muslims under a
new platform which helped the alliance to snatch Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat from
the Shiv Sena. If they are planning to field candidates on 100 seats in
Maharashtra that will have definite impact not only on the Shiv Sena-BJP
alliance but will harm more to the Congress-NCP in the state. Bringing MNS into the Congress-NCP
alliance is a double-edged sword, if it will bring some Maratha votes to the
alliance then it will drive away not only Muslim vote but north-Indians votes
as well from the Congress-NCP combine and AIMIM and VBA combined are ready to
take Muslims hand in hand and north Indians going to the BJP-Shiv Sena fold.
These two communities are decisive in certain pockets in the state. Dalits will
also be lured by Ambedkar. So the attempt of the Congress and the NCP will go
in vein if the VBA accepts proposal of the AIMIM. The AIMIM was an old ally of
the Congress but they had developed differences and parted ways just before
2014 Lok Sabha elections. On the other hand the BJP and the
Shiv Sena are working on their original plan with Shiv Sena taking the
hardliner stands while the BJP talking about taking everyone along. The
alliance has been able to deliver best-ever performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha
elections but Assembly elections are different. They have decided much in
advance that they will be contesting equal number of seats leaving others much
behind in terms of polls strategy. 
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Congress-MNS alliance may prove to be counterproductive for the party
By IndianMandarins - 2019-07-14 12:13:35
New Delhi: The Congress has
appointed a new president for Maharashtra as Balasaheb Thorat who is in favour
of alliance with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) for the Assembly
elections in the state along with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) which is
stronger than the Congress at the moment at least the 2019 Lok Sabha elections
suggests so.
Such indications of Congress-MNS alliance started being talked about when MNS chief Raj Thackerey met with United Progressive Alliance chairperson Sonia Gandhi recently. Apparently the entire move is to counter the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state which has decimated the Congress-NCP alliance in the state. Now, on the other hand All India Majlish-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) has told the Vanchit Bahujan Agadi (VBA) headed by Prakash Ambedkar to contest 100 Assembly seats out of 288 seats in the state.
This is to remind that instead of managing its own support base, the Congress attempt to steal into the vote banks of other political parties might prove to be counter-productive. Dalits and Muslims had been the core vote bank of the Congress for very long time besides a few other sections in Maharashtra but a new social engineering of Assaduddin Owaisi and Preakash Ambedkar has brought Dalits and Muslims under a new platform which helped the alliance to snatch Aurangabad Lok Sabha seat from the Shiv Sena. If they are planning to field candidates on 100 seats in Maharashtra that will have definite impact not only on the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance but will harm more to the Congress-NCP in the state.
Bringing MNS into the Congress-NCP alliance is a double-edged sword, if it will bring some Maratha votes to the alliance then it will drive away not only Muslim vote but north-Indians votes as well from the Congress-NCP combine and AIMIM and VBA combined are ready to take Muslims hand in hand and north Indians going to the BJP-Shiv Sena fold. These two communities are decisive in certain pockets in the state. Dalits will also be lured by Ambedkar. So the attempt of the Congress and the NCP will go in vein if the VBA accepts proposal of the AIMIM. The AIMIM was an old ally of the Congress but they had developed differences and parted ways just before 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
On the other hand the BJP and the Shiv Sena are working on their original plan with Shiv Sena taking the hardliner stands while the BJP talking about taking everyone along. The alliance has been able to deliver best-ever performance in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections but Assembly elections are different. They have decided much in advance that they will be contesting equal number of seats leaving others much behind in terms of polls strategy.
