It's Advantage MNS after the party's statewide
protest on Wednesday to press for transparency and accountability in the
collection of toll, political observers said.
"We have made our point on the toll issue.
There was no need to continue with the protest after chief minister Prithviraj
Chavan made a fresh offer for talks. Our purpose was not to harass
citizens," said MNS president Raj Thackeray after he returned home from
the RCF police station.
Reacting to criticism that the protest failed to
make an impact, Thackeray said, "It was not a mass movement. It was a
symbolic stir."
Partymen too think that although ill-planned and
short-lived, the stir has come as a shot in the arm for the party at a time
when it was wracked by infighting and inertia. "The stir will help the
party gear up its organizational limbs," said Nitin Sardesai, MLA from
Dadar.
The party's spin doctors said a TV grab showing
Thackeray seated in a police van after the police arrested him would go a long
way in consolidating Marathi voters ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
That Chavan renewed his offer for talks within 18
hours of Thackeray rejecting the former's earlier truce formula is being cited
by party activists as proof of the MNS chief's clout and charisma. "We've
brought the CM to the negotiating table on an issue which affects a large
swathe of population," said Pravin Darekar, MLA. He pointed out that
Chavan had withdrawn his objection to Thackeray getting a contingent of senior
journalists along for talks at Sahyadri, the state guest house, on Thursday.
"Some leaders are dear to the ruling Democratic
Front," quipped Swabhimani Shetkari Sanghatana leader Raju Shetty, MP,
referring to the CM's willingness to hold talks even after Thackeray went ahead
with the protest. But Shetty upheld the MNS viewpoint that toll in Maharashtra
lacked accountability and transparency.
Pointing out that the stir had given the MNS an edge
over the Shiv Sena, senior party functionary Avinash Abhyankar said, "Our
protest has eclipsed the Sena's 10 such public agitations in the last two
years."
