The Shiv Sena (UBT) will on Sunday start its next chapter of social engineering with party chief Uddhav Thackeray initiating a dialogue with socialist parties and leaders gathered under the banner of Samajwadi Janata Parivar in a bid to forge an alliance ahead of next year's Lok Sabha and assembly polls.Notably, late Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray had enjoyed very good relations with legendary socialist leaders like George Fernandes and Madhu Dandawate.
Next year is crucial for Shiv Sena (UBT) which will witness the Lok Sabha and Vidhan Sabha polls, and also the civic polls in the state which include the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which had been controlled by them for close to a quarter of a century.Earlier this year, Uddhav announced an alliance with the Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA) and the Maratha outfit Sambhaji Brigade, indicating his faction's political flexibility even as it attempted to hold on to its Hindutva and Marathi manoos votebank. Thackeray will interact with leaders of the Samajwadi Janata Parivar, and party sources said that after the meeting, an alliance between the UBT Sena and the socialist parties is likely to be sealed.Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray had also forged an alliance with Praja Samajwadi Party for the Mumbai civic polls. However, as Shiv Sena locked horns with Left-controlled trade unions in Mumbai and its neighbourhood and later as it shifted towards the Hindutva ideology, there was bitterness between the two sides. During elections, Thackeray had even bitterly criticised socialist leaders such as Madhu Dandvate and Mrinal Gore. During this time, he also became a vocal critic of socialist parties. Now, with BJP dominating the political landscape and Opposition parties forming a broad national coalition, Uddhav Thackeray is reaching out to socialist parties in Maharashtra.