MUMBAI: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led by Raj Thackeray has decided to take part in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections. The party will contest 15 Lok Sabha seats including those from Pune, Nashik and Thane districts.
A senior MNS leader, speaking to Arab News yesterday, said the MNS has been raising the issues of the local people for the past several years and that the party has almost finalized candidates for Pune, Nashik, Mumbai north and Mumbai south. The names of the candidates would be announced in late March. “We are holding meetings and we have, in principle, agreed to contest 13 to 15 seats,” the MNS official, who did not want to be named, said, adding that the preparation of the party manifesto was under way.
The MNS plans to contest all the six seats in Mumbai and a couple of seats in the Thane district.
Political observers say that MNS’ participation in polls is likely to create a dent in Shiv Sena’s traditional vote bank. The move by the party, which has raised the issue of the Marathi-speaking people, could deal a blow to the poll prospects of the Sena-BJP alliance, which is already showing signs of cracks.
Meanwhile, Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray was discharged from the Lilawati Hospital yesterday morning after remaining in hospital for 10 days.
In another development, supporters of Suresh Kalmadi, the sitting Congress lawmaker from Pune, and Congress legislator Mohan Joshi fought pitched battles outside Tilak Bhavan in Dadar yesterday, where a Congress selection panel was meeting to decide on candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. Police had to be called in to bring the situation under control.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, former Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and state Congress President Manikrao Thakre were holding discussions with potential candidates prior to the allocation of Lok Sabha tickets.
Supporters of Kalmadi and Joshi gathered at the venue and started raising slogans in favor of their leaders. This led to tension and a scuffle ensued. Joshi supporters were urging the selection panel not to allocate ticket to Kalmadi as they claimed he would not be able to carry his bastion.
