Mumbai, Oct. 11: The Shiv Sena is out to scupper tomorrow's Mumbai launch of a book written by former Pakistan foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri, setting the stage for another proxy confrontation with ruling partner BJP.

The man who has organised the event for Observer and Research Foundation, a foreign policy think tank, is Sudheendra Kulkarni, who served as speechwriter for BJP veterans Atal Bihari Vajpayee and L.K. Advani.

The Sena, which shares power with the BJP in Maharashtra, has written to the director of Worli's Nehru Centre, the launch venue, to cancel the show because of the Pakistan connection.

Maharashtra's home department, headed by BJP chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, has assured the organisers of full security cover, but a Sena leader from Worli warned that "a lot" might "change" politically if police acted against "party cadres" tomorrow.

The confrontation looms barely days after the Sena had forced the organisers of a concert, where Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali was to perform, to scrap the show despite a security assurance from Fadnavis.

Kasuri is scheduled to attend the launch of his book, Neither a Hawk nor a Dove: An Insider's Account of Pakistan's Foreign Policy. "Our event will go on as planned. We have been assured full security and assistance by the police. We are not going to be browbeaten by a handful of people.... Our intent is to normalise relations between Pakistan and India," Kulkarni told The Telegraph today, four days after the book's Delhi launch.

Sources said Kulkarni met Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray late tonight.

Sunil Shinde, the Sena leader from Worli, said: "We have asked the director to cancel the event. Our opposition to Pakistani artistes, intellectuals and cricket team is because of Pakistan's policy of terror and proxy war towards India - no cultural exchanges can take place...."

The BJP, Shinde added, was "deliberately taking this stand with Pakistani visitors to show that their agenda and ours is not the same. Tomorrow, if the police of our own government act against our own party cadres, our top leadership will not accept it. Politically, a lot may change."

Although allies, the Sena and the BJP have had an uneasy relationship. Sources said both have been preparing to fight each other in the coming civic elections, due next year. A Sena leader said Uddhav and his cousin Raj Thackeray "have been discussing a coming together to take on the BJP".