Has Shinde cornered Uddhav Thackeray by fielding Milind against Aaditya in Worli?

New Delhi: Milind Deora had won the Mumbai South Lok Sabha seat in 2004 and 2009. However, he lost the seat to Arvind Sawant of Shiv Sena, then undivided, in 2014 and 2019. Following the new political alignments in the state, with Shiv Sena and NCP splitting into two factions and formation of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the 2024 Lok Sabha, Congress tried hard to secure the Mumbai South seat for Milind Deora. However, Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief refused to relent. He could not let down Sawant, a sitting MP who opted to stay with him after the 2022 split in the party despite
many temptations and threats. And rightly so as Sawant defeated Yamini Jadhav of Shiv Sena by over 50, 000 votes.

Meanwhile, Milind Deora had quit Congress and joined Shiv Sena and was made a Rajya Sabha MP. Now, Milind Deora is Shiv Sena candidate against sitting MLA and Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray from Worli assembly constituency.

Suddenly, the battle for Worli has become the most talked about and significant constituency of the Maharashtra Assembly
elections. And while the result of this unlikely battle between a six-month-old RS MP and grandson of Balasaheb Thackeray will be hard to predict, it is definitely a fine political move by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. While Deora has nothing to lose, Worli is likely to give Uddhav Thackeray sleepless nights and keep Aaditya Thackeray confined to his constituency. As per some media reports emanating from Maharashtra, Uddhav is not at his medical best and Aaditya was expected to lead the campaign.

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However, Shinde is not giving them a free run. Also, it would not be a good for Aaditya, being groomed to lead the party in future, losing only his second assembly election.

Milind Deora – Shiv Sena

Just like Aaditya, Miling Deora is also a dynasty politician and is the son of former union minister and four-time MP Murli
Deora of Congress. Close to the Gandhi family, Milind was not even in his 30’s when he got to contest his first Lok Sabha election in 2004 from his father’s constituency of Mumbai South and won. In only his second term (2009-2014) as MP, Milind was made a union minister (MoS) in July 2011. However, he lost consecutive elections thereafter and his political fortunes dipped.

Aaditya Thackeray – Shiv Sena (UBT)

Meanwhile, Aaditya Thackeray, the first Thackeray to take an electoral plunge will be contesting only his second election. He won the 2019 assembly election by a handsome margin of 67,500 against Suresh Mane of NCP. However, those were different times. Shiv Sena was united and contesting in alliance with the BJP, whose graph was on the rise in the state. However, things could be tough for him this time. Going by the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, the party’s winning candidate Arvind Sawant could barely win by a margin of 6000 votes from Worli assembly segment. It was only because of a lead of over 80,000 from Mumbadevi and Byculla assembly segments that Sawant could win.

Sandeep Deshpande – MNS

Meanwhile, Sandeep Deshpande of Raj Thackeray-led MNS can also make things difficult for Aaditya considering the party has extended covert support to BJP and Shiv Sena. Deshpande attacks junior Thackeray more for ignoring the Worli constituency in the last five years than the ruling Mahayuti government. Being a Maratha, he can also split some Maratha votes considering the community is angry with Mahayuti over the issue of reservation and OBC status and are expected to vote for the MVA in large numbers.

However, Aaditya is not too worried about all this. The Shiv Sena (UBT) believes that Modi-factor (appeal of PM Narendra Modi) was at play during the Lok Sabha elections and that it would be missing in the assembly elections. Regarding damage which Deshpande can cause, Thackeray’s team believe that people can see through the gimmick and will not have any impact on the elections. But more than anything else, Shiv Sena (UBT) believes that there is a negative wave against the Mahayuti that will be enough for MVA to sweep the elections.