Raj Thackeray in demand among city Congress, NCP candidates

Mumbai: On the backdrop of tremendous response Raj Thackeray is getting during the Lok Sabha polls campaigning, there is a growing clamour among the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) candidates for his rallies in Mumbai. However, it may not be possible to entertain the demands due to lack of time, said Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) sources.

MNS spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande said, “Rajsaheb will hold a rally at Shahid Bhagat singh Maidan in Abhyuday Nagar in Kalachowki on April 23. Followed by this, he will address one more rally in Bhandup.”

According to party sources, Mr Thackeray will subsequently hold rallies in Panvel and Nashik, but is unlikely to conduct any more rallies in Mumbai.

The MNS is not contesting the Lok Sabha polls. But there have been fervent demands from the candidates of Congress-NCP combine in Mumbai asking the MNS chief to hold rallies in their constituencies. Raj has alre-ady held several rallies across the state campaigning against the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. But it would not be possible further due to constraint of time, said a senior MNS leader.

“Where is the time left now for additional rallies? Rajsaheb’s schedule for rallies has already been planned. So despite growing demand, he will be unable to conduct any further rallies in Mumbai,” he said.

Party sources said, Congress candidates like Urmila Matondkar, Priya Dutt have asked for Mr Thackeray’s rally in their constituencies.

In Mumbai, the MNS chief had recently held his party's Gudi Padva rally, in which he indicated that he would campaign against the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls. Terming Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah as a “calamity for the country” in the rally, he had vowed that he would strive hard to wipe them out. He also extended support to Cong-ress chief Rahul Gandhi to become the Prime Minister of the nation.

Since then, he has been campaigning aggressively to support the Congress-NCP candidates in the LS polls. His rallies have been receiving tremendous res-ponse from the people.

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