Uddhav and Raj will contest civic elections together, says Raut

Nashik (Maharashtra), Aug 15 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said his party and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will contest the coming civic elections in Mumbai and elsewhere together.

"The Thackeray brothers (Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray) will contest the municipal corporation elections in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Kalyan-Dombivali together and win. The strength of Raj and Uddhav Thackeray is the strength of the unity of the Marathi-speakers. No power cannot break the iron fist of `Marathi manus' now," Raut told reporters here.

Discussions with the MNS for forming an alliance are underway, Raut said.

The BJP, however, dismissed his statement.

Pravin Darekar, a state BJP legislator, said it was unclear whether the two Thackeray cousins had held any talks or it was all Raut's "guesswork".

"We have not seen so much helplessness in Uddhav Thackeray, who did not remember his own cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray for the last 20 years," he said.

Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan said the Sena (UBT) remembers Marathi-speakers only when elections are near.

The BJP received huge support from Marathi voters in the last year's assembly elections and the attempt to mislead them did not work, he said. PTI COR ND KRK