Mumbai, March 17: With speculations making the rounds that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) mighty not contest the Lok Sabha Elections, it came out true with the party chief Raj Thackeray issuing a statement on Sunday making it clear that his party won’t contest the Lok Sabha polls this year.

Earlier, there were reports that MNS would contest the LS polls in alliance with the Nationalist Congress Party in Maharashtra, but with the latest release, it is now clear that Thackeray wants to concentrate on the Assembly polls in the state, due in November this year. Maharashtra Lok Sabha Elections 2019 Dates: Constituency-Wise Complete Schedule Of Voting And Results For General Elections. 

In the first week of March, the MNS chief even had a telephonic conversation with NCP president Sharad Pawar, and speculations rose that he might have called for a possible alliance. But later it was revealed that Thackeray was addressing his viewpoints on the Lok Sabha elections and would lend his support to Congress-NCP alliance in the state.

It is to be known that Thackeray had been vocal about north Indians and his alliance with NCP-Congress might affect the votes share. So after much consideration, Congress objected to the idea, while was ready to take the outside support of the party.

The Lok Sabha elections in Maharashtra would take place in the first four phases, and the results would be announced on May 23.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 17, 2019 07:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).