Mumbai: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray was on Thursday re-elected to the top post in the party he founded 18 years ago, a development which comes just ahead of the state assembly polls.
Thackeray’s re-election as the party president, a post he has occupied since the MNS inception in 2006, was a mere formality.
MNS spokesperson Sandeep Deshpande said Thackeray (55) was elected for a fresh five-year term that technically began in 2023 and will end in 2028.
He said the election for party’s president was supposed to be conducted on 2023, but it could not take place due to various reasons.
The party then directed that organisational polls be conducted before June 30.
Senior MNS leader and former MLA Bala Nandgaonkar proposed Thackeray’s name for the post at a party meeting and it was seconded by another ex-legislator Nitin Sardesai.
Thackeray formed the MNS after breaking away from the undivided Shiv Sena.
Earlier in the day, Nandgaonkar told reporters Thackeray has asked party workers to be prepared to contest 225 to 250 out of the 288 assembly seats in Maharashtra, where elections are due in October.
The MNS had declared support for the BJP-led NDA during the just held Lok Sabha elections and Thackeray campaigned for the alliance’s candidates in the state.
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