'King of Marathi hearts' Raj Thackeray wants to appease North-Indian voters

The politics in the state of Maharashtra is on the verge of taking a new shape. First, it was Shiv Sena who broke the 25-year-old alliance with the BJP, estranged partner Congress- NCP agreed to form an alliance for upcoming Lok Sabha elections and now, the biggest 'anti-North Indian' face Raj Thackeray is trying to appease North Indians voters. Yes, you heard it right. Raj Thackeray wants to let go of his 'anti-North Indian' image and improve his relationship with the people. In order to do so, Raj Thackeray, for the first time Raj Thackeray will be sharing a dias with top North Indian leaders.

Recently, Uttar Bhartiya Manch has invited Raj Thackeray to be the chief guest of their annual program and surprisingly, Raj Thackeray has accepted their invitation. He will attend their program on December 2, 2018.

According to MNS sources, Raj Thackeray has realised that he can't come to power or win a good number seats on just Marathi vote bank. In Maharashtra's urban area, especially in Mumbai, North Indian voters are in a large number, who playa crucial role in every elections.

After forming the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Raj started 'anti-North Indian drive' and projected himself the as biggest saviour of the Marathi pride. Initially, Raj got some success but in the few last five years, the graph of MNS has been continuously going down. Like his Uncle Bal Thackeray, who started his political journey on Marathi Manoos card, he too realised that you can catch the attention of local Marathi people through Marathi pride issues and vandalism but to sustain in politics for a long time you need have an inclusive policy.

Read: 'Give Us One Chance To Rebuild Maharashtra', Raj Thackeray Appeals To The Voters

Apart from this, Raj Thackeray also wanted to be part of the Sharad Pawar led Grand alliance in Maharashtra but due to his 'anti-North-Indian image', Congress and other parties have opposed his inclusion in the Mahagathabandhan. But now, after Raj Thackeray's willingness to fill this shortcoming, Congress has welcomed his move to have a dialog with North Indians. Mumbai Congress Chief Sanjay Nirupam said:

"We are happy that he wants to have a dialogue with North Indians but he should first apologise to the people of North Indian for the hate campaign he had ran over the decade".

Raj Thackeray's North Indian appeasement politics is going to be a game changer in Mumbai politics.