Mumbai: Making light of the `MNS factor` in
the February 16 Mumbai civic polls, Chief Minister Prithviraj
Chavan on Thursday said the Raj Thackeray-led party will only help
the Congress-NCP alliance by dividing the traditional vote
bank of Shiv Sena.
"I think there is a space for the so called Shiv Sena-like
mindset. A finer division of votes between MNS and Sena will
help us," Chavan said, talking to reporters here.
"Earlier, Shiv Sena had a larger share of votes compared
to MNS. Now that same vote, if shared equally by both, helps
us," he said.
"The question is whether MNS will take a whole lot of
Congress votes, a whole lot of NCP votes and a whole lot of
Sena votes," said Chavan.
The Chief Minister claimed that the MNS vote percentage
had gone up, "but not enough to make it a winner". He also
ruled out the possibility of the Congress-NCP joining hands
with MNS after the results.
To a query on what action the state government proposed
to take on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray`s `hate` speeches,
Chavan said, "I have told the law and order agencies to act
within the ambit of law on the matter."
PTI
