Raj Thackeray to support only winnable aspirants

Mumbai: Although Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has been campaigning aggressively for Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidates in the ongoing Lok Sabha polls, he will hold rallies only in those constituencies where the Opposition has fielded strong candidates, said MNS sources.

The MNS chief has announced that he will canvass to ensure the defeat of the Bharatiya Janata Party-Shiv Sena (BJP-Sena) alliance in the state.

According to MNS sou-rces, Mr Thackeray’s decision to hold rallies only at select places will be a win-win situation for him. If the Opposition wins, the credit will go to him enti-rely. In the event the Oppo-sition loses, the margin will not be that large as the candidates are strong and hence, he will not be held responsible for the defeat.

The MNS announced that it will not contest the upcoming Lok Sabha polls in the state. But Mr Thackeray is expected to address nine rallies in favour of the Opposition alliance of Congress-NCP.

Mr Thackeray has alre-ady held rallies at Nanded and Solapur, where heavyweight Opposition candidates like Congress state chief Ashok Chavan and senior Congress leader and former Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde are contesting.

After Nanded and Solap-ur, Mr Thackeray is set to hold rallies in Maval, Baramati and Satara constituencies, party sources said. NCP’s Supriya Sule, Udayanraje Bhosale and Parth Pawar are contesting from Baramati, Satara and Maval constituencies respectively.

Even though the Congress had opposed allowing MNS’ entry into the opposition alliance, Raj is campaigning for their candidates. However, no candidate of Congress-NCP would be allowed to share the dais with Mr Thackeray, said sources.

After Nanded and Solapur, Mr Thackeray is set to hold rallies in Maval, Baramati and Satara constituencies, party sources said.

The Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule, Udayanraje Bhosale and Parth Pawar are contesting from Baramati, Satara and Maval constituencies respectively.

Mr Thackeray may also canvass in Nashik, Mumbai North-East (Sanjay Patil), Mumbai North-Central (Priya Dutt) and Mumbai North (Urmila Matondkar), the MNS leader said.

While Mr Thackeray is not canvassing openly for the opposition alliance, his speeches, which are targeting the BJP-Sena alliance, will help the opposition parties to garner votes, he added.