Raj Thackeray's MNS to go solo for Maharashtra polls

The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will fight the Maharashtra assembly elections on its own, without any alliance, said party chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday.

The head of MNS had backed Prime Minister Narendra Modi's candidature in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections and campaigned for the BJP-led Mahayuti candidates in the states.

The MNS will fight the assembly polls independently, he told reporters, asserting that they will contest more seats than any other party.

"We will be contesting the polls with full vigour. After the polls, the MNS will be in government. The MNS will contest the highest number of seats among all political parties," said the firebrand leader known for his oratory skills.

He also welcomed the state government's decision to waive toll at Mumbai's five entry points and said his party had been campaigning for it for several years.

Thackeray, who broke away from the undivided Shiv Sena and founded the MNS in 2006, had openly backed Modi's candidature for the PM's post in 2014. But he then changed tracks and went on to become his bitter critic, going to the extent of playing videos of promises made by Modi at his well-attended rallies, and pointing out how they remained unfulfilled.

Of the 288 assembly constituencies in the state, MNS had won one seat each in the 2014 and 2019 elections.

Maharashtra will go to polls in a single phase on November 20 and votes will be counted on November 23.

It will largely be a fight between the ruling Mahayuti coalition of BJP, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar's NCP and the opposition bloc Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) comprising the Congress, Uddhav Thackeray's Shiv Sena-UBT and Sharad Pawar's NCP-SP.