NO ALLIANCE: MNS set to contest BMC polls alone

Mumbai: The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Wednesday put to rest all speculations over a possible political alliance for the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls by announcing that it will contest all 227 seats on its own. MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande on Wednesday said that MNS chief Raj Thackeray has made it clear that the party will contest BMC elections on its own strength and will not ally with any other party. “We have contested all BMC elections, be it 2017 or 2012, on our own, and we will contest all 227 seats this time too. Raj sahib (Thackeray) has asked us to contest polls with all our strength, and we have begun preparations to follow his directions,” he said. Earlier, there were strong rumours that MNS was set to align with either the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) or the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led faction of the Shiv Sena. Deshpande’s statement comes a day after MNS Chief Raj Thackeray also joined the Opposition in expressing shock at the VedantaFoxconn semiconductor project handover to Gujarat.

“How did a project that was expected to generate a large number of jobs slip from Maharashtra’s grip? This is serious and therefore merits a probe. Maharashtra has always been the first preference for investors, and seeing them make a journey away from the state is not a good sign. There is a need to look at this issue beyond politics,” Thackeray said in a series of tweets late on Tuesday night. A series of visits by Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, BJP National General Secretary Vinod Tawde, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde to Raj Thackeray’s house, and the latter’s visits to Fadnavis and Shinde’s homes had triggered speculation that the Maha Yuti alliance could rope in MNS to contest BMC polls. MNS’ decision not to ally with anyone will make the BMC election multi-cornered affair with the Shiv Sena, Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) battling the BJP-Shinde faction, the MNS, and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).