Mumbai: Causing frenetic speculation, MNS chief Raj Thackeray and the Congress came together for the first time on one platform. The reason—to meet chief electoral officer S. Chokalingam to flag alleged irregularities in the poll process.
Although Raj Thackeray has not publicly announced which alliance he will go with—MVA or Mahayuti—after his public coming together with cousin Uddhav, it is generally believed he will form an alliance with the Sena UBT. But the question now is, will Raj Thackeray also be a part of MVA?
Congress state in-charge Ramesh Chennithala told the media on Tuesday, “There is no proposal for including MNS into MVA and no such discussion took place. That is why speculations like we are upset with MNS or we are dilly-dally about MNS are wrong. If anyone wants to join the INDIA alliance, leaders of the alliance will decide it.”
When ThePrint spoke to Congress leaders and functionaries, a common thread that emerged was that allying with Raj Thackeray was not an option being considered currently.
“Today’s event was a different thing. Our leader Rahul Gandhi has been speaking relentlessly about vote chori and many leaders have now joined in. It is a welcome sign that Raj Thackeray also thinks along the same line. But our going (together) and meeting the election officer should not be taken as a sign of any alliance,” said a Congress leader who did not wish to be named.
A local functionary of the Congress told ThePrint that Raj’s previous statements regarding north Indians and his views on topics like Savarkar and Hindutva were different from what the Congress believed.
“How can we ally with him? If both Thackeray brothers want, they can form an alliance. What can we do? Anyway, our workers feel it is time we need to fight solo because Congress has strength in Mumbai. And we can test our strength,” the functionary said.
Feelings on the MNS side are similar. “We haven’t yet taken any decision. Our leader Raj saheb will take that final call even with regards to Sena UBT. As far as Congress is concerned, there is no discussion about it,” said an MNS leader to ThePrint.
On Sunday, Sena UBT MP Sanjay Raut told the media that Raj Thackeray wants to take the Congress along in the alliance with Sena UBT.
However, MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande dismissed this and told the media, “It is the party that will state its position and nobody else. Henceforth, our party position will be cleared only by our people.”
Even Congress’ Chennithala told the media, “We have not discussed anything about MNS, as there is no proposal before us and no one has spoken to us about them. I want to make it very clear that there is no discussion on including any other party in the MVA.”
Raj Thackeray had good relations with Sharad Pawar and in 2019, the MNS was in talks with the undivided NCP for a potential tie-up, but the talks did not progress because the Congress was not on board.
On Monday, though, the delegation that met Chokalingam included MVA leaders like Uddhav Thackeray, Sharad Pawar, Balasaheb Thorat, and other MVA alliance partners, along with MNS chief Raj Thackeray. This comes ahead of the upcoming local body polls.
On the agenda of for the meeting was the alleged manipulation of voter data, including accusations of vote tampering and irregularities in the voters’ list. They even questioned the state election commission on why final voter lists have not been made public yet. Discussions were not finished, so the delegation will meet again on Wednesday.
Congress dilemma
Raj launched the MNS in 2006, after quitting the Shiv Sena over Bal Thackeray’s decision to anoint his son Uddhav, and not Raj, as his successor.
In the early days, the MNS constantly targeted north Indians and Gujaratis in Mumbai. His party workers resorted to vandalising Gujarati/Hindi signboards on restaurants and shops and launching violent attacks against migrants from north Indian states.
However, before the 2019 lok Sabha elections, when Raj Thackeray did not support Modi for PM, he softened his stand against Gujaratis and North Indians. However, in 2025, Raj Thackeray joined hands with Uddhav Thackeray against Hindi imposition in schools, once again making the Hindi-speaking population uncomfortable. MNS workers have even allegedly thrashed shopkeepers for not speaking Marathi in Mumbai.
“Their stand against north Indians is aggressive. If we ally with them, it won’t go down well with our voters. Congress has north Indian as well as Muslim voters,” said the Congress leader quoted above.
(Edited by Viny Mishra)
Also read: Modi sounds BMC poll bugle in Mumbai with a ‘26/11’ strike at Congress & an Op Sindoor chest thump