Raj Thackeray: Winning friends and influencing foes vide wedding invite

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray is currently on a megamission to invite leading personalities for his son Amits upcoming wedding and thereby winning friends and influencing foes ahead of the 2019 electionsOn Sunday he set political tongues awagging after a nearly twohour meeting with Nationalist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar ostensibly to present the wedding invite and solicit his blessings for the young couple Amit and Mitali BorudeMore so since it came a day after his wellpublicised meeting with cousin and Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray whom he personally went to invite for the weddingEven more significant Thackeray is expected to call on Congress President Rahul Gandhi in New Delhi soon to of course invite him for the Jan 27 weddingHowever NCP spokesperson Nawab Malik promptly dismissed Rajs call on Pawar as purely social and nonpolitical helpfully qualifying that there was no discussion on elections during the long meetNevertheless informed political sources on both sides hint at something more being cooked than only a wedding feast possibly an electoral arrangement with the help of the NCP chief to enable the 13year old MNS regain a foothold in state and national politicsIn the past few years Thackeray has been a stringent critic of both Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party BJP President Amit ShahThough it sounded sweet music to the ears of the state opposition parties most were reluctant to politically sup with him leaving the MNS virtually a pariah hungering for powerUnabashedly praising Modi barely five years ago Thackeray turned a razorsharp Modibaiter sparing no opportunity to lambast both the him and the BJP on all issues besides regularly lampooning them through his famed cartoonsDespite such credentials the CongressNCP who are busy finalising an alliance for the 2019 Lok Sabhapols coldshouldered Thackeray and even cousin Uddhav coolly ignored all feelers for MarathiManoos parties MNSSS joining forcesProbably his sons wedding may soften some hearts and open a tiny backdoor for Raj Thackeray to tiptoe into an Opposition alliancePolitical speculation is rife that the MNS may get a Lok Sabha from the NCP quota from Mumbai but both sides remain mum on the issuePrivately leaders of most parties admit that there are very few leaders in the opposition camp who can match Raj Thackerays oratory skills the likes of which would be in great demand visavis the formidable Modi during the anticipated roughandtough poll campaignSour with the MNS for its stringent antinorth Indian stance in the past nearly a decade Mumbai Congress President Sanjay Nirupam hailing from Bihar is strongly opposed to any suggestions to include the party in any opposition allianceThe apprehension is that giving a lift to MNS in the state could undermine the support of the strong northIndian community from Bihar Uttar Pradesh Jharkhand besides Uttarakhand Delhi Punjab Haryana and even Rajasthan enjoyed by the Congress NCP Samajwadi Party and others hereThough feeling leftout not out Thackeray sought to make sincere amends by attending a highprofile meeting of the Uttar Bharatiya Manch UBM on Dec 2 and attempted to build bridges into their hearts by addressing them in HindiIts also a known fact that PawarRaj enjoys each others company and are often seen together on Oct 26 they were chatting away on an AurangabadMumbai flightEarlier on Feb 21 Raj escorted and interviewed Pawar on a public platform in Pune with a 5000strong live audience They have routinely met on several occasions all described as courtesy callsCatch up on all the latest Crime National International and Hatke news here Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updatesThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Except for the change in the headline the story has been provided ASIS AS AVAILABLE without any verification or editing from our side Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever