Pune: An intense spell of heavy rain coupled with thunder and lightning on Wednesday washed out whatever grand plans that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray had for his first public meeting in Pune city. It did appear that the retreating monsoon rains played a spoil sport as the MNS was unable to kick-start his party’s campaign for the upcoming State Assembly polls. All eyes were on Thackeray as he had gone silent following his nine hour interrogation by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in August.
The heavy spell of rain which began around 6 pm and lasted about half an hour, was enough to force the MNS to call off its first election rally, much to the dismay of party workers who took refuge under the chairs they held over their heads.
According to an local MNS leader, about 200 odd party workers had reached the venue at the Saraswati Vidya Mandir ground. “However, the strong gale force winds accompanied by the furious spell of rains made the complete ground swampy. The continuous spells of showers from Tuesday night till Wednesday morning rendered the venue unsuitable for the meeting.
Despite the overnight showers the MNS workers had worked throughout the day readied the grounds for their party president to Raj Thackeray address his first public meeting. However, the evening showers played spoilsport again and dashed all hopes of the MNS activists.
The party cadres were hoping that their party president’s rally would have given a boost to the chances of MNS candidate Kishore Shinde in the high profile Kothrud assembly constituency. Shinde, who has received covert support of the NCP and other opposition parties and is pitted against state BJP president Chandrakant Patil. The MNS had been desperately hunting for a venue for Thackerays first public meeting for past many days.
The party’s Pune unit chief Ajay Shinde, himself the MNS’ candidate for the Kasba Peth assembly seat, had even accused the ruling BJP-Shiv Sena government of deliberately trying to scuttle the MNS presidents plans, as Thackeray’s public rallies in the May 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign had drawn huge crowds. Thackeray is scheduled to hold two public meetings in Mumbai tomorrow.
Thackeray’s spirited campaigning for the Congress and the NCP in the general election had proved to be a big flop, with the BJP-Sena candidates winning with huge margins in the same constituencies the MNS chief had held his rallies. The MNS, once a force to reckon with in Pune civic and Maharashtra politics, has witnessed a sharp decline in its political and electoral fortunes.
The party had sprung a surprise in the 2012 civic polls in Pune, emerging as the second largest party garnering 29 seats, ahead of the Congress and the BJP. While the NCP emerged as the single largest party, winning 51 seats, the Congress bagged 28, followed by the BJP with 26, and the Shiv Sena with 15 among the major parties.
Despite notching impressive performances in the 2012 polls to the Pune and Nashik municipal corporation’s (having ruled the Nashik Municipal Corporation), internal bickering and mismanaged campaigning has caused the party to implode with many among its top leaders defecting to the ruling BJP or to the Sharad Pawar led NCP.
Thackeray’s decline commenced with the MNS twin electoral debacles in the 2014 parliamentary and assembly elections which left the party in utter disarray.
The magnitude of its woes were compounded following its total rout in the civic polls held in February 2017, causing many to write off Thackeray and his MNS as a major political force in the state. Currently, the party does not have a single MLA in the Maharashtra legislature while its showing in the 2017 civic polls was very poor.
