While the Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) is taking initiatives to make sure that the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) remains intact in Maharashtra to fight the BJP in the municipal corporation elections, the Congress is in a dilemma on the inclusion of the MNS in the alliance.
A section of Congress leaders wants to accommodate the MNS to create a strong alliance of opposition to take on the BJP-led saffron bloc.
Pawar is said to be completely in favour of the MNS being brought into the larger MVA alliance. He has conveyed this to Mumbai Congress president Varsha Gaikwad, when the latter led a delegation to meet Pawar and Supriya Sule, who is the working president of the NCP(SP).
Earlier, during a meeting between Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief suggested that it's important that the MVA fights together as an alliance to "save" Mumbai from the BJP-led forces.
Following the meeting, Raj is said to be considering joining hands with the MVA. The problem, however, lies with the Congress leadership in Mumbai and the state.
Varsha Gaikwad had made a statement that Uddhav should choose between the MVA and the MNS, indicating that a large number of Congress leaders and workers in Mumbai are opposed to joining hands with Raj's party because of its "anti-migrants and anti-Muslim stand".
However, senior Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar has supported MNS's entry into the MVA fold to strengthen the opposition unity. He also noted that the MNS had agreed to join 'Satyacha Morcha' a month ago. Wadettiwar is the leader of the Congress legislature party in Maharashtra.
Now, it remains to be seen whether the initiative taken by NCP(SP) to include the MNS in the MVA will bear fruit, and the state Congress leadership will agree to expand the alliance.