Raj Thackeray asks party workers to be ready to contest 225-250 seats in Maharashtra assembly polls

Mumbai: MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday asked the party workers to be prepared to contest 225-250 out of the 288 seats of the Maharashtra assembly in the coming elections, a senior party leader said.

Talking to reporters after a meeting here, MNS leader Bala Nandgaonkar said party functionaries will visit different regions of the state and give a report to Thackeray about election preparations.

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena had declared support for the BJP-led NDA during the Lok Sabha elections. Raj Thackeray also campaigned for the NDA though his party was not in the fray anywhere.

"Raj Thackeray asked party workers to be prepared to contest 225 to 250 seats in the assembly elections," Nandgaonkar said.

Asked if the MNS would form alliance with the ruling Mahayuti coalition of the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP or contest on its own, he said, "We are not holding any discussions right now. And with whom we are going to hold talks?" "We have contested elections on our own till now. We will see what happens in the future, but if we have to prepare for the polls," Nandgaonkar said, adding that every party has to expand.

Formed in 2006, the MNS contested its first assembly elections in 2009 and bagged 13 seats. Its performance in the 2014 and 2019 state polls, however, was lackluster with the party bagging only one seat each time.

Sandeep Deshpande, another party leader, said that at the meeting Thackeray noted that the Opposition's Maha Vikas Aghadi -- of which the Shiv Sena (UBT) is a part -- got anti-Narendra Modi votes in Muslim-dominated areas, but did not get much support in Marathi-speaking areas.

"So Marathi-speakers were angry with Uddhav Thackeray because he joined hands with the Congress and NCP (SP)," Deshpande said quoting Raj, implying that the MNS could get their votes.