Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday announced the first list of his party`s candidates for the Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik municipal corporation elections here.
Addressing a press conference, Raj said the lists for Nagpur, Solapur, Amravati, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Ulhasnagar and Akola would be declared at the local level soon.
He released the list of 208 candidates out of the 227 wards in Mumbai, 138 out of 152 in Pune, 115 out of 122 in Nashik and 115 out of 130 in Thane.
MNS had held a written examination and interviews for selecting the candidates. "My apologies to all those who could not be accommodated," Raj said. When asked about his strategy for Mumbai polls and if he would extend support to any other party if MNS was offered the mayor`s post, Raj said, "I will select my party`s mayor for myself and not others," without clarifying whether he would enter into any alliance post-election.
To a question on whom he considered as his main rival between the Congress-NCP and Sena-BJP-RPI alliances, Raj said his focus was solely on winnig the municipal polls. As to whether MNS would contest the Zilla Parishad and panchayat samiti elections, he answered in the negative. Condemning the attack on The Times of India building by Shiv Sena workers yesterday, Raj said it reflected a "defeated mindset".
Without naming Shiv Sena and its mouthpiece `Saamna`, Raj said, "They can abuse anybody in their newspaper. But (they expect) nobody should write anything against them. How is that possible?"
Asked for his response to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar`s statement that he did not intend to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, Raj said, "If I remember correctly, he had made a similar statement before the 2009 elections. He then contested from Madha and not (his traditional seat) Baramati."
PTI