Maharashtra Elections 2024: Ashish Shelar urges Mahayuti to support Raj Thackeray’s son in Mahim

Ashish Shelar said he was not opposing Sena candidate Sada Sarvankar (left) but Mahayuti should support Raj and Amit Thackeray (top right) who had been friends to the alliance. File pics

In a three-way fight between MNS, Shiv Sena and Shiv Sena (UBT) candidates for the Mahim seat in the impending assembly polls, BJP city head Ashish Shelar has thrown his support behind MNS chief Raj Thackeray's son, Amit.

Shelar said that he was not opposing Sena's candidate Sada Sarvankar, explaining that since Raj's son is a Hindutva advocate and maintains a cordial bond with Mahayuti, the ruling alliance should reciprocate too. "I feel that Mahayuti should support Amit, who is our family. I will meet CM Eknath Shinde, deputy CMs Devendra Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar in this regard," he told media persons on Saturday.

"Uddhav Thackeray may think otherwise, but Mahayuti should preserve the bond [with Raj]. We should take a unified political stand and set an example to send a positive message to the people," said Shelar, in a dig at Sena (UBT), which fielded a candidate against Amit in Mahim despite Raj giving a pass to Uddhav's son Aaditya in Worli in the 2019 elections. This year, MNS and Sena (UBT) candidates go head to head at both Worli and Mahim. MNS also has a nominee in Malad West, where Shelar's brother Vinod is contesting against Congress's sitting MLA.

Meanwhile, Congress released its second list of 23 candidates on Saturday, including in some Mumbai constituencies. Ganesh Kumar Yadav has been renominated from Sion Koliwada, while Yashwant Jayprakash Singh will fight from Charkop and Kalu Badheliya is in the fray in Kandivli East.

Sena (UBT) declared three candidates for Mumbai, including a Versova ticket for Haroon Khan, who is a loyal party worker. The party has fielded a Muslim candidate in view of the community's increasing support. However, Congress party workers said they had demanded the seat and the candidates' list may change at the last minute. The other two candidates declared by Sena UBT are Sanjay Bhalerao (Ghatkopar West) and Sandeep Naik (Vile Parle).