Mumbai: Days after reiterating the party's national ambition, Shiv Sena President and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray will have a maiden telephonic talk with Telangana Rashtra Samithi Founder and Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, to discuss national political developments and the possible formation of a non-BJP front in the next general elections.
Even though Rao has announced that he would soon meet Thackeray, Shiv Sena insiders on Wednesday said a physical meeting won’t be possible for now, as the chief minister is recovering from a spine surgery.
KCR had earlier said he will be going to Mumbai to meet Thackeray to hold talks about a new alliance, as there is a need for a qualitative leadership change in the country.
Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut, who has been stepping up the attack against erstwhile ally BJP, said: "We've been working for the past month to form an Opoosition alliance to contest the 2024 polls together."
KCR reaching out to Thackeray is important as the latter has categorically denied any possibility of a patch up with the BJP while indicating that Shiv Sena will join non-BJP parties to put up a united fight. Raut has been in constant touch with NCP Chief Sharad Pawar as well as Congress MP Rahul Gandhi and other opposition parties.
Mamata has already expressed her desire to work with the Shiv Sena and other like minded parties against the BJP. Raut has been an ardent advocate of Thackeray leading the non-BJP ruled parties at the national level.
A senior Shiv Sena Minister told the Free Press Journal, ''The Shiv Sena is quite keen to expand its presence and aim for a national role. This was made amply clear by Thackeray during his address to party cadre on the birth anniversary of party supremo, the late Balasaheb Thackeray. Already, the Shiv Sena, after BJP’s betrayal, has found new allies in the NCP and the Congress to form a Maha Vikas Aghadi government which is strong and stable. The Shiv Sena will look for new allies at the national level, too, especially since the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance has shrunk with constituents like the Akali Dal, Sena and the TDP having walked out of the formation.’’
