Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray has come a cropper. His vicious rallies against Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP chief Amit Shah have failed to make any dent in the Lok Sabha elections. Mr Thackeray held close to a dozen rallies only to defeat the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre and in the state. Raj Thackeray held 11 rallies across the state, including the Gudi Padwa rally in Mumbai. The MNS did not field any candidate in a bid to ensure that its voters supported the Congress-NCP candidates. However, the election results prove otherwise.
The BJP-Shiv Sena alliance has won all the seats excluding Raigad, where Mr Thackeray held the rallies. However, the MNS claimed that it helped the Opposition on seats including Baramati and Satara, where there was a tough fight put up by the BJP-Sena candidates.
Meanwhile, Raj Thackeray commented on Twitter, “Beyond Rationale!” MNS state leader and spokesperson Anil Shidore said that they had to minutely analyse the results, as the same were not anticipated.
“Wherever, the MNS chief conducted the rallies, the party had got a good feedback from the people so we thought that the voters will cast their votes against Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, it did not happen but we tried to arrest the BJP-Shiv Sena candidate at three seats,” Mr Shidore said. “The MNS did not field any candidates. Had he fielded candidates, the situation would have been otherwise, said Sharad Pawar.
Netizens troll Thackeray heavily
Raj Thackeray became the butt of jokes after the Lok Sabha 2019 results. Many memes like “Lav re to video” (put on that video) went viral on social media, in a pointed reminder of how the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief had campaigned against the Narendra Modi government by highlighting earlier clips of the Prime Minister taking pot shots at the Opposition or making promises to the people during the Lok Sabha elections of 2014.
In another embarrassment, Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray took a jibe at the MNS chief, who is also his cousin, saying “Lav re te fatake” (light the firecrackers) to celebrate the sweeping victory of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance. There were other memes, too, like “Band kara te video” (Stop those videos). The MNS chief had criticised the PM’s statement about the soldiers martyred during the Pulwama attack earlier this year. Netizens took to social media, highlighting that Raj Thackeray should have focused on the positive work done by his party rather than criticising the PM and his works.
“Instead of carrying out a negative campaign with the single agenda to decimate Mr Modi, please carry out a positive campaign next time. Politics of your ideas and vision for India,” read a twitter handle.
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