MNS chief to make his electoral debut

Nobody in Thackeray family has ever contested an election

Mumbai: After the drubbing his party received in Lok Sabha elections, MNS president Raj Thackeray on Saturday announced he and his party would contest the assembly elections in Maharashtra due later this year and would be the Chief Minister if his party got the mandate.

Nobody in the Thackeray family has ever contested an election or held any government post. Raj on Saturday went one step further and made it clear that he would become the Chief Minister if his party romps home in the electoral battle.

"People have a lot of love for and expectations from our party. If the mandate is for MNS, I will not hesitate to lead it," he said. MNS, which had declared support to Narendra Modi for the Prime Minister's post and fielded just nine candidates, mostly against Shiv Sena, in Lok Sabha polls, had suffered a wash-out. Many of its candidates even lost their deposits.

Raj Thackeray broke away from the Sena in 2005 to form his own party. Since then, Uddhav and he have been fierce political opponents.MNS had earlier announced that Raj Thackeray would be itsChief Ministerial candidate. Addressing his first rally after Lok Sabha poll rout, Raj said he would bounce back in coming assembly elections.

"Political pundits said I am finished....But look at the crowd gathered here....Does the rally have a look of a defeated party?" he said. He said he had seen defeats since a very young age when he was in Shiv Sena. "I have learnt how to learn from defeats and bounce back."

Referring to the criticism about his party's performance so far, Raj said "if you have expectations from me, give me time." "In Nashik municipal corporation, it was just about two years ago that my party came to power. You don't question those who are ruling the civic bodies for more than 30 years...How can I fulfil all the promises in two years," he said.