Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray Tuesday introduced “unconditional support” for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the state’ Mahayuti alliance for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Talking on the Gudi Padwa rally held in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park, Raj Thackeray stated that the MNS won’t contest Lok Sabha polls however didn’t rule out contesting Meeting elections slated to be held later this 12 months.
“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 stated.
Final month, Thackeray had met Union Dwelling Minister Amit Shah, resulting in speculations that he might be part of the Mahayuti — an alliance of Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP), Eknath Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s Nationalist Congress Social gathering (NCP) in Maharashtra.
And as promised in his rally video teaser, Thackeray revealed what transpired behind the closed-door assembly.
“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 stated.
“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 additionally revealed how he would “not compromise” on his celebration image and wouldn’t contest elections utilizing some other celebration image. “I have gained our symbol with a lot of hard work. There will be no compromise on the symbol,” he stated.
After Raj Thackeray declared his help to the Mahayuti alliance, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde expressed his gratitude. “I want to thank Raj Thackeray for supporting Mahayuti unconditionally,” he stated 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 stated.
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MNS help to Modi
Following its formation in 2006, the MNS noticed electoral success within the 2009 Maharashtra election and the 2012 civic polls. However since then, the celebration’s journey has been rocky.
Furthermore, Raj Thackeray has modified his stand now and again — 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,” stated Raj.
Publish-2019, the MNS once more started cozying as much as 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 modified tunes and began espousing the Hindutva trigger.
For now, he might be supporting the Mahayuti alliance “only for Narendra Modi”, he stated. “Because the country needs strong leadership.”
On the rally, Thackeray additionally put an finish to hypothesis over whether or not he’ll be part of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena. He stated if he wished, he would have performed it already.
“I have MNS to look after and I will continue to do so,” he stated.
(Edited by Zinnia Ray Chaudhuri)
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