Raj Thackeray: ED wants to scare away party fund donors

Raj Thackeray

Declaring that the party's list of candidates would be out soon and the poll campaign would kick-start on October 5, MNS chief Raj Thackeray told his supporters on Monday that the Enforcement Directorate (ED) was after him and NCP president Sharad Pawar with a motive to scare away prospective donors who could possibly contribute to the parties' election funds.

Speaking at Kalanagar's MIG Club, Raj said when a leader was under ED probe or faces any other charges, the corporates, industrialists and other donars prefer to stay away and do not contribute to the party funds. "These people don't even take your calls and avoid meeting you (for apparent reasons)," he said. All political parties in the country get donations, of which they declare the official ones as per the law. Both Thackeray and Pawar have been named in the ED probe.

The former has been questioned while the latter had volunteered to submit himself to the ED even though he wasn't summoned. A high political drama followed after Pawar made his intention to visit the agency office in Mumbai public.

Thackeray told the ticket aspirants that MNS would contest the polls on its own despite the fabricated efforts to stop it. "My inner voice says we will succeed this time," he added. The party has also admitted Narendra Patil, son of Dharma Patil, a farmer who had committed suicide in the Mantralaya. Narendra will contest the elections as the party's official candidate.

'MNS will fight elections in full strength'

Amidst speculations whether the MNS would contest the state Assembly elections, party chief Raj Thackeray on Monday announced that the party would fight the polls in full strength and soon he would declare the candidates and respective seats. He said, "In the coming days I will tell you the names of four to five people who will contest on our party tickets. We are in touch with others keen on joining the party. I will address my first public rally on October 5 and tell people why I stayed away from speaking to the public in the past few weeks." However, he is yet to share the details of the total number of seats his party would contest, which is expected to be around 125.

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