The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), led by Raj Thackeray, announced on Sunday that it will not be contesting the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
A statement issued by MNS leader Shirish Sawant made the announcement, stating: ‘We will talk more on March 19.’ The statement indicates that party chief Raj Thackeray will be conducting campaign rallies to push his anti-Modi stand throughout the election season without seeking votes for the party.
MNS’ decision has not come as a surprise to some observers, after the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) announced candidates on Kalyan and Mumbai North East seats, last week. According to reports, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) was interested in including the MNS in the alliance and was even ready to offer it one of these two seats. NCP leader Ajit Pawar and Mr. Thackeray had held a meeting last month to finalise the seats.
Congress leaders, including its Mumbai president Sanjay Nirupam and Maharashtra president Ashok Chavan opposed the idea. “We have already clarified that we cannot take MNS along with us in the alliance. We do not approve by its stand on certain issues,” Mr. Chavan had said earlier. Congress sources had claimed that joining hands with MNS would have affected party in northern states as Mr. Thackeray’s party has been involved in attacks against north Indians and migrant population.
The decision comes as shot in the arm for the Opposition as it will avoid the division of anti-BJP votes. According to source, Mr. Thackeray will campaign and hold rallies in strategic constituencies where he is guaranteed to influence certain percentage of Marathi voters against the BJP or Shiv Sena candidate. His public rally in Mumbai on the party’s foundation day was streamed live across news channels and even Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had to respond to him, calling him a ‘parrot of Baramati,’ that is, of NCP.
As per the party leaders, even though it could not win seats in 2014 elections and failed to impact the Mumbai civic polls, each of the six Lok Sabha constituencies in Mumbai have around 60,000 to 90000 MNS votes on an average. “These votes may turn out to be effective for the Opposition,” said a party leader.