Estranged Thackeray cousins Uddhav and Raj on Wednesday formally announced an electoral alliance for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls next month, saying their unity was driven by a shared sense of duty to protect Marathi identity.
“Maharashtra has been waiting for this day for a long time. I declare today that the Shiv Sena and the MNS are united,” MNS chief Raj Thackeray said in Marathi at a media address in Mumbai, flanked by Uddhav, who heads the Shiv Sena (UBT).
Elections to the cash-rich BMC are scheduled for January 15. The coming together of the cousins is widely seen as being driven by political compulsion as both parties seek to protect their turf in the country’s financial capital, from where the Thackerays draw much of their political influence and organisational strength.
“The next mayor of Mumbai will be a Marathi, and he will be from the Shiv Sena-MNS,” Raj declared to loud cheers from supporters. “Mumbai will stay with us, come what may,” Uddhav added confidently. He said the alliance was not merely electoral but aimed at safeguarding the interests of Maharashtra and the Marathi people.
The two leaders, however, did not announce the details of the seat-sharing arrangement, amid reports of differences over specific seats the two parties would contest. Party leaders said the seat-sharing arrangement was being worked out and would be announced in due course.
Targeting the BJP and its allies, Uddhav said Mumbai had become an “eyesore for the rulers in Delhi” and reiterated that the alliance was forged out of a sense of responsibility towards Marathi identity. “Marathi people do not normally trouble others, but if someone crosses the line, they are not spared,” he said, urging unity among Marathi voters.
Referring to the BJP’s slogan “batenge toh katenge (divided we perish)” during the Assembly elections, Uddhav accused the party of attempting to sow discord among Marathi people. “I say, ‘chukal tar sampal’ (if you falter now, you will be finished),” he warned, cautioning that losing Mumbai would have serious consequences.
Uddhav also accused the BJP of harbouring designs to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra.
The rapprochement was heavy on optics, with the cousins posing for a family photograph after the media address and travelling in the same car to reinforce the message of unity.
Reacting to the development, Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis sought to mock the alliance, saying the hype made it appear as though “Russia and Ukraine have come together” or that “Zelensky and Putin are talking”.
“This is an alliance of two parties that have lost both their identity and their vote base. Their coming together will have no impact,” Fadnavis said. “They have joined hands only to save their political relevance. The people of Mumbai have seen the development work done by us, which is why Mumbai is with us and will remain so. The Mahayuti will win Mumbai.”
The Thackeray cousins had shared the stage in Mumbai in July this year — more than two decades after their political split — to oppose what they described as “Hindi imposition”. They had protested the Fadnavis government’s decision to make Hindi the default third language in primary schools, a move that was rolled back ahead of the protest.
The renewed unity comes amid a steady erosion of the Thackeray family’s political clout following the rise of the BJP in the state and the split in the erstwhile Shiv Sena. Deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde, who led the rebellion that fractured the party, has since emerged as a dominant political force, sidelining the Thackerays.
“They have come together only for power and have no programme for Mumbai’s development,” Shinde told reporters. “Those who deviated from the ideology of Balasaheb Thackeray have been taught a lesson in last year’s Assembly elections and in the recent municipal council and nagar panchayat polls.”
Elections to the BMC have been pending since 2022, when the term of the elected body expired. The civic body is currently being run by a government-appointed commissioner. The undivided Shiv Sena had long dominated the country’s richest corporation, but political equations began to shift in the 2017 polls which the BJP and the Shiv Sena contested as allies. While the Sena emerged as the single-largest party with 84 seats, the BJP finished a close second with 82 of the 227 seats.