BJP-MNS friendship means eyes somewhere, target somewhere else

-Eyes on BMC elections more than Lok Sabha
Mumbai Before the Lok Sabha elections, BJP is trying to go into alliance with another party in Maharashtra politics. This alliance could be with BJP and Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS). Now regarding the foundation of this alliance, it is being said that Raj Thackeray is being joined hands as an alternative to Uddhav Thackeray. So that a strong hold can be made on the Marathi vote bank in Maharashtra through Raj Thackeray. However, experts say that Raj Thackeray's vote percentage in the last elections in Maharashtra is not such that it can be termed as a big deal. But with this jugalbandi, BJP will definitely be able to have a psychological impact on Marathi voters. Apart from this, Raj Thackeray is preparing the ground for his strong claim in the BMC elections in collaboration with BJP.
The biggest discussion in Maharashtra politics is on what basis is the alliance between Raj Thackeray and Bharatiya Janata Party moving forward. Senior journalist and political analyst Himanshu Shitole says that in fact, Bharatiya Janata Party's alliance with Raj Thackeray can be considered important for creating a psychological pressure among Marathi voters. He says that in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections, Raj Thackeray got about one and a half percent votes, whereas in the assembly elections of the same year, he got three percent votes. Himanshu says that after that the performance of Raj Thackeray's party was not that good.
Himanshu Shitole says that in such a situation, it would be completely wrong to say that Raj Thackeray is a compulsion for BJP in Maharashtra. Political experts say that with the association of Bharatiya Janata Party with Raj Thackeray, Bharatiya Janata Party will leave an impact psychologically on the Maratha vote bank. To connect with Marathi voters, Bharatiya Janata Party currently has the strong support of leaders like Eknath Shinde and his party's MLA Ajit Pawar. Therefore, Raj Thackeray is not at all a big compulsion for the Bharatiya Janata Party to connect the Marathi vote bank.
Political experts believe that by psychologically connecting with MNS, Bharatiya Janata Party can give a big message to Marathi voters through this alliance. But in true sense this alliance can benefit Raj Thackeray in the upcoming BMC elections.
Political expert Nikhil Chandrabhai Wadwalkar says that in the last few elections, Raj Thackeray's political journey has gone down much compared to 2009. In such a situation, Raj Thackeray is more worried about his political party and political journey than BJP. This alliance can be like a booster dose for Raj Thackeray in elections like BMC.
What do the statistics say?
According to the data, in the 2019 assembly elections, Raj Thackeray had fielded candidates on 101 seats. Only one candidate had won the election in this election, whereas in the same assembly elections, the deposits of 86 candidates of the party were confiscated. According to Election Commission data, MNS had got almost two percent of the votes in this election.