Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray Tuesday announced “unconditional support” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state’ Mahayuti alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Speaking at the Gudi Padwa rally held in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, Raj Thackeray said that the MNS will not contest Lok Sabha polls but did not rule out contesting Assembly elections slated to be held later this year.
“I don’t want Rajya Sabha or Vidhan sabha, I told Fadnavis. I told them, I have no expectations and no conditions. My full support is with Modi, BJP, NCP (Ajit Pawar), Sena (Eknath Shinde),” he said.
Last month, Thackeray had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah, leading to speculations that he may join the Mahayuti — an alliance of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) in Maharashtra.
And as promised in his rally video teaser, Thackeray revealed what transpired behind the closed-door meeting.
“For the past one and a half years, the CM of Maharashtra has been coming to me and saying that we should work together. Fadnavis, too, said the same thing. So, I went to meet Amit Shah to understand exactly what the proposal was,” he said.
“We spoke of seat distribution. The last time I sat for negotiations was in 1995. I told them that I don’t have the temperament for negotiations,” he added.
He also revealed how he would “not compromise” on his party symbol and would not contest elections using any other party symbol. “I have gained our symbol with a lot of hard work. There will be no compromise on the symbol,” he said.
After Raj Thackeray declared his support to the Mahayuti alliance, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his gratitude. “I want to thank Raj Thackeray for supporting Mahayuti unconditionally,” he said in Nagpur.
Even Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis expressed his gratitude. “Raj Thackeray has supported us, keeping his faith in Narendra Modi’s strong leadership and Viksit Bharat. I am thankful to the MNS and we all will work hard to fulfil the promises made to people,” he said.
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MNS support to Modi
Following its formation in 2006, the MNS saw electoral success in the 2009 Maharashtra election and the 2012 civic polls. But since then, the party’s journey has been rocky.
Moreover, Raj Thackeray has changed his stand every now and then — in 2014 he supported Modi, in 2019 he opposed him.
“I was the first one in the country to support Narendra Modi for PM. But then, over the next five years, I saw that things didn’t go as expected and that is why I criticised him. My criticism of Narendra Modi was never personal like Uddhav Thackeray or Sanjay Raut. I opposed Narendra Modi because I didn’t like some things and this opposition will remain if promises are not delivered,” said Raj.
Post-2019, the MNS again began cozying up to the BJP after the formation of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance consisting of the undivided Shiv Sena, undivided NCP and the Congress. He even changed tunes and started espousing the Hindutva cause.
For now, he will be supporting the Mahayuti alliance “only for Narendra Modi”, he said. “Because the country needs strong leadership.”
At the rally, Thackeray also put an end to speculation over whether he will join the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. He said if he wanted, he would have done it already.
“I have MNS to look after and I will continue to do so,” he said.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
Also read: BJP’s friend in 2014, foe in 2019, potential ally in 2024 — the many flip flops of Raj Thackeray