Zee Media Bureau/Manisha Singh
Mumbai: Extending his unequivocal support to Bharatiya Janata Party`s (BJP) prime ministerial candidate for 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Narendra Modi, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said on Monday that he was not looking for any Cabinet berth.
In an exclusive interview to Zee News Raj Thackeray said, “My support is person specific. My support is for Modi. I am playing with a straight bat. This is not calculated politics on my part.”
Batting for Modi as the best person to be the next PM of India he maintained that the Gujarat CM was someone who understood business, development and could communicate with the people. “If Modi fits all the criteria, then why not back him to be the next PM of India. He has proved himself in Gujarat, I have witnessed it myself,” he said.
At the same time he argued that there was no alternative before the country apart from Modi.
On the contentious issue of MNS being anti-North Indians, Raj Thackeray emphasised that his only concern was the well-being of the local population and jobs for people of Maharashtra.
Raj Thackeray did not agree with the fact that his party had limited presence in his state and even more limited presence outside Maharashtra. “It takes time to build a party,” he said.
He dismissed the new party on the block, the Aam Aadmi Party and refused to accept them as a growing force.
On being asked whether he had tried to model himself as per the image of Shiv Sena founder, late Bal Thackeray, Raj accepted that he was surely inspired from his uncle.
Raj Thackeray was emphatic about the fact that there was no question about MNS being part of the NDA. Shiv Sena being a part of the NDA was one of the stumbling blocks for him.
When asked whether he was open to being the CM of Maharashtra, he answered in the affirmative. “I have to be open to it if I have to do something for the people. But I am not hankering for any post,” he said.
Regarding the issue of intimidating people from the film fraternity, Raj Thackeray maintained that he only raised objections when he thought something wrong was happening, like the use of Bombay in a movie instead of Mumbai.
Meanwhile, while accepting that there was a Modi-wave in the country, he said that the strength of the regional parties will not be lessened.
At the end MNS chief said that it was not that he never smiled and was always in an angry mode. “I get angry when people irritate me.”
