A hoarding greeting a former Thane corporator of the Nationalist Congress Party with the photographs of Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena spokesperson Naresh Mhaske has given rise to speculation of the former switching sides.
However, former corporator Najeeb Mulla downplayed such talk by claiming most leaders in the Thane region were friends despite political differences among parties and nothing much needs to be read into the birthday hoarding. The hoarding has been put up by six former NCP corporators greeting Mulla, who is one of the party's leading figures in the district's Mumbra region.
Mhaske is the former mayor of Thane, who chose to align with Shinde, the region's strongman, when the latter rebelled against Uddhav Thackeray in June last year. "It is welcome if the hoarding put up by former NCP corporators has our photographs. Mulla is a popular leader with rich experience. If he joins us, it will be good but we don't have information on any such move," Mhaske said.
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Incidentally, Mhaske and some Bharatiya Janata Party leaders from the area had visited Mulla at his home to wish him for his birthday on Friday. Civic polls in Thane are due since early last year and the ruling BJP and Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena are likely to contest it together.
