His meeting with Home Minister Amit Shah had indicated his interest in the saffron party, so Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray’s declaration at a Gudi Padwa rally in Mumbai’s Shivaji Park on Tuesday that he would support PM Modi and the NDA came as no surprise.
"I am extending unconditional support to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the NDA,” Thackeray declared at the rally, asking his party workers to start preparing for the assembly elections scheduled for October this year.
MNS will not be participating in the Lok Sabha elections.
The declaration indicated a complete U-turn for the firebrand Thackeray, who is the nephew and mentee of Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray and cousin to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray. He was highly critical of PM Modi in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, but this time round, declared to the crowds at the rally that he “was the first one, even before BJP, who said Narendra Modi should become the Prime Minister of India.”
Raj Thackeray also said he had praised the PM for striking down Article 370 and also led a morcha for NRC.
The MNS move indicates that Thackeray is now a part of the NDA and subsequently the Maha Yuti, an alliance between the BJP, Shiv Sena and the NCP.
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