Raj Thackeray's MNS may not contest Maha assembly polls

Mumbai : Raj Thackeray's political party Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) may not contest the upcoming Maharashtra assembly elections. Several senior leaders of the party informed Raj Thackeray that the party was not in a position to fight the forthcoming election.

At a party meeting, several senior leaders raised their concern over the current political situation of Congress and NCP in the state whose senior leaders are quitting over to join Shiv Sena and BJP. Observing the political turmoil, MNS may rollback. The MNS did not contest the 2019 Lok Sabha election but campaigned against the BJP all over the state.

According to party sources, party chief Raj Thackeray has noted the views of party leaders but has not taken any decision on it. But soon, Raj Thackeray will clear the air whether the party will contest the upcoming assembly election or not. According to senior leaders of the party, MNS is not in a position to fight the polls. But many mid-level leaders and workers have requested to the party chief to contest the election.

In August, MNS Chief Raj Thackeray was questioned by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for more than 8 hours in a money laundering case. Nitin Sardesai and Rajan Shirodkar were questioned too by ED in the same money laundering case.

Notably, even though Raj's party did not fight the 2019 Lok sabha election, he attracted huge crowds at his pre-election campaign against BJP which was presented with data and fact check videos. However, the impact of it was not seen in state as the Shiv Sena- BJP managed to sweep the Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra. The ally partners managed to wipe out Congress- NCP coalition from the state. However, MNS still hopes to pull off some surprise in the assembly election.

As of now, there has been no review of candidates nor any seats, and it looks like the party has gone cold.