MNS, A FORCE TO RECKON WITH

Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena may not have won a single seat in the Lok Sabha elections, but its candidates garnered an impressive number of votes indicating that the party is now a very serious contender.

Consider this – every single MNS candidate won more than one lakh votes each in Nashik. In South Mumbai Lok Sabha constituencies they stood second and almost everywhere else, they were a respectable third. MNS lost in Nashik and in North East Mumbai by a slender margin. A few thousand more votes and MNS could well have won two Lok Sabha seats in its debut.

Shiv Sena leaders claim MNS stole their votes, but the results are a clear indication that MNS did more than steal from the Sena tigers – it took away the lion’s share. MNS candidates were leading in as many as 15 of the 33 assembly segments in the city. It also means Sena can’t take Mumbai for granted any more.

No wonder then that party chief Raj Thackeray is mighty pleased with the party’s performance.

“You can’t say I caused the Sena’s defeat. I can say that my candidates lost because of Sena as they have won a sizeable number of votes,” he countered. He claimed the Marathi maanus agenda helped his party.

“There were quite a few critics and I was told that crowds at public meetings don’t translate into votes. I think they have got their answer now. The results have proved I was right,” he said.

MNS’s success also indicates that the city is now polarised between Marathis and the migrants. Sanjay Nirupam, who registered a shock win over the BJP in North Mumbai acknowledged this when he said that his victory was possible as MNS took more than one lakh votes and they were largely Marathi voters. Even the Mumbai Congress president Kripashankar Singh said that the reverse consolidation of North Indian votes in Mumbai helped Congress candidates in all five seats in the city. “Thanks to MNS’s vicious campaign, the North Indian vote was consolidated, too,” he pointed out.

It is this polarisation that gives MNS hope. “There were many who did not vote for the MNS thinking their vote would be wasted. But now they will have realised that the MNS is a strong option. We will get a lot more in the coming assembly polls and are sure to win at least 40 seats in the state elections,” said an MNS leader.