Published On : Mon, Aug 25th, 2014

Raj Thackeray will not contest assembly polls

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Nagpur News.

In a U-turn, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has ruled out contesting the forthcoming state Assembly elections, saying that he does not want to ‘limit’ himself to one constituency.

“The entire state of Maharashtra is my constituency and I do not want to limit myself to just one constituency,” Raj told reporters here last night.

According to Raj, although he had planned to contest the elections, he has had a change of mind and would rather concentrate on campaigning across the State.
Raj told reporters that if he was to choose any constituency in particular, he would not be able to pay attention to the rest of the State. He said that this is the reason why he has chosen to refrain from contesting.
Expressing his opinion on the Bharatiya Janata Party’s unprecedented victory, Raj said that Prime minister Narendra Modi’s contribution in the victory was 30 per cent, while social media contributed about 20 per cent in the win. But the largest contribution of about 50 per cent in BJP’s thumping win was that of the Congress.
He compared the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections with the 1984 general elections after the assassination of the then PM Indira Gandhi when the Congress had registered a landslide victory.
Elaborating on the issue, Raj said that there is still a strong anti-Congress sentiment in the country, but there is a big difference between Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
Commenting on chief minister Prithviraj Chavan’s decision to skip the PM’s programme in the city, Raj said that CMs should be given due respect in such programmes. If stern directives are issued by the party high command, no worker can pass any unparliamentary remarks or create a hostile environment for ministers.
“Did any CMof the BJP face disrespectful treatment during the UPA government?” questioned Raj.