After addressing public rallies in different parts of the State, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray will be campaigning in Mumbai and its surrounding areas.

Mr. Thackeray, whose party is not contesting the Lok Sabha elections, will address two public rallies in Bhandup and Sewri in the coming week, as per the current schedule. He will not address a public rally in former Mumbai Congress president Sanjay Nirupam’s Mumbai North West constituency, as the MNS has already clarified that it will not campaign for Mr. Nirupam.

Interestingly, Mr. Thackeray’s schedule shows no rally in Mumbai North, where the Congress’s Urmila Matondkar is playing the Marathi card this time.

The MNS chief will address a public rally at Bhandup on April 23 and Sewri on April 24. Bhandup falls under the Mumbai North East constituency where Sanjay Dina Patil of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) will take on Manoj Kotak of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), while Sewri is part of the Mumbai South constituency where Mumbai Congress president Milind Deora is taking on the Shiv Sena’s sitting Member of Parliament (MP) Arvind Sawant.

Mr. Thackeray will also be addressing public rallies in Panvel on April 25 and Nashik the next day. Panvel is part of the Maval Lok Sabha seat where the NCP’s Parth Pawar is taking on the Sena’s sitting MP Shrirang Barne, while Nashik is witnessing a fight between Sameer Bhujbal of the NCP and Hemant Godse of the Sena, who is the sitting MP.

“Our party has already clarified that we will not support the candidature of Mr. Nirupam. His statements against the MNS chief and the Marathi manoos can never be tolerated,” said an MNS leader. He said the decision on holding a rally in Mumbai North is yet to be taken.

Mr. Thackeray has been touring the State, addressing public rallies to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP.

In his rally at Shivaji Park on Gudi Padwa, he said he would not mind Congress president Rahul Gandhi becoming prime minister. The BJP, rattled by the attacks from Mr. Thackeray, has asked the State’s chief electoral officer to seek an investigation into the funding of MNS rallies.