MUMBAI: A day after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray sent his key man Bala Nandgaonkar to the Shiv Sena with a proposal for an alliance in the Mumbai civic polls, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday clarified that his party will go it alone.
“We have not received any alliance proposal from any party. We do not have any intention to join hands with anyone,” said Mr. Thackeray, adding that the Sena will be contesting all 10 municipal corporations and 25 zilla parishads on its own. “The entire State will be painted in saffron.”
Mr. Thackeray said the preparation of the Sena’s candidate list is in the final stage and meetings are on. “How is it possible to discuss an alliance at this stage?”
Mr. Nandgaonkar on Sunday evening held a meeting with Sena leaders at the residence of the party chief. Reacting to the Sena chief’s statement that he did not receive any proposal whatsoever, Mr. Nandgaonkar on Monday evening said the proposal was of an alliance without conditions. “Our proposal was that we wanted our seats and that was it. We did not want anything else. If he wants to prove me wrong, I have nothing to say. But even now I feel that we have time for announcement of an alliance.” Three weeks ago, the MNS chief had said that his party will consider an alliance with any party if he gets a proposal.
After Mr. Thackeray’s announcement on January 26 to snap electoral ties with the BJP, MNS leaders had indicated that both parties could come together. While none of the Sena leaders had responded to those statements, the MNS seems to be determined on continuing with its efforts.
Earlier, the Sena chief took a dig at BJP national president Amit Shah’s remarks on friendly fights with his party in Maharashtra. “Was the issue of friendly fights raised during the State assembly polls? Why is it being raised now? Are they (BJP) behaving in a manner to have friendly fights?”
