“If you are born and brought up in Mumbai, why consider yourself outsiders?” Uddhav asked a gathering of North Indians at a public meeting at Goregaon on Sunday. “North Indians are Indians and we can work together. We can unite as Hindus,” he said.

Uddhav even felicitated Bhojpuri actor Manoj Tiwari on the occasion, pointing out that the Sena required the support of North Indians to win in Delhi. “Some people would develop a stomach ache when they see us together and wonder how UP-wallahs are with the Sena? But you should be careful to isolate such people who are trying to divide us,” Uddhav told the gathering, expressing confidence that the party will win in Maharashtra in the forthcoming elections.

Uddhav’s gesture comes close on the heels of the talk of “outsiders” (non-Marathi people) being involved in the New Year’s Day molestation of two NRI women at Juhu and Raj Thackeray taking the 14 accused — who claimed they were innocent bystanders — to meet Deputy Chief Minister R R Patil to present their side of the story.

The Sena is also carefully trying to use various planks to consolidate its position among different sections of society. Like, in Thane district, it expressed open sympathy with local people against the rising number of fresh migrants. It is also making overtures towards North Indians to ensure that they support the party on Hindutva lines.

The Sena’s gesture is reminiscent of its “Me Mumbaikar” campaign launched by Uddhav in 2003 to involve all sections of the society to create a city-centric identity irrespective of religion or language. The campaign, however, hit a snag, when job-seekers from other states were attacked by activists of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena, the student wing of the Sena, at Kalyan railway station. The protesters were demanding jobs for local youths.

Five years down the line, much has changed. Raj has broken away from the Sena and floated his Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, which is competing with the Sena. Uddhav, who was then considered a novice by his adversaries, has since toured Maharashtra extensively and taken up various issues of concern to people to improve his image. And after leading the party to victory in the February 2007 elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation, Uddhav is now hailed as a successful leader.