File picture of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray
| Photo Credit: ANI
While announcing Maharashtra Navnirman Sena’s (MNS) Assembly election plans in Mumbai on Thursday to go solo, party Chief Raj Thackeray took an indirect jibe on Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Chief and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar stating had the “ladki behen and “ladki bhau” (adorable sister and adorable brother) come together, the party would not have split.
Mr. Thackeray had lent unconditional support to the ruling Mahayuti coalition during the Lok Sabha election held earlier this year. MNS had fielded filmmaker Abhijit Panse from the Konkan Graduates constituency last month for a berth in the Maharashtra Legislative Council but withdrew the candidature after meeting Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and sitting Member of Legislative Council representing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Niranjan Davkhare.
“We are going to contest 225 to 250 seats in Maharashtra. Tickets will be issued only to those who are elect worthy and ready to contest… In the upcoming election, I want our party members to somehow get elected in this Assembly election. Many people will laugh at this. Let them, I don’t have any problem with that. But this is going to happen. Don’t think if there will be an alliance later and what portfolios we will get. I can tell you that we are going to contest on 225-250 seats,” Mr. Thackeray announced while addressing his party’s functionaries. In the current State Assembly, the MNS has only one MLA – Pramod (Raju) Patil from Kalyan Rural.
He will be touring Maharashtra starting August 1 to strengthen the party and motivate the workers. A team of five people has been formed who will visit different areas of the State. The names of these team members will be kept confidential; they are expected to verify ground reports regarding the candidates’ performance.
Without naming Mr. Pawar and NCP (SP) working president Supriya Sule, Mr. Thackeray drew parallels between the recently introduced “ladki behen” and “ladki bhau” schemes by the Maharashtra government. According to him, had Mr. Pawar and Ms. Sule come together, both the parties would have survived the split.
“The other day I met someone. I had to ask him which party he belongs to now. These days, can’t understand who has joined which party,” Mr. Thackeray shared, “Someone from our party told me two to three people intend to quit the party. If they want to join other political outfits, I will roll out the red carpet for them. They may destroy their own future in such times when the future of other parties themselves is unstable.”
The MNS was founded in March 2006 after the Thackeray cousins split owing to differences between them. With Mr. Raj Thackeray, several party functionaries, as well as rank and file members of the undivided Shiv Sena left to form the MNS. During the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, he fielded 143 candidates and ate into the undivided Shiv Sena’s vote bank by winning 13 seats. In the subsequent State election, the party’s result dwindled. Mr. Thackeray gave tickets to 219 candidates but only Sharad Sonavane from Junnar managed to win. Five years later, 101 candidates represented MNS, again, only one could get elected, Pramod (Raju) Patil from Kalyan Rural.
