Joint victory rally in Mumbai was for the cause of Marathi, it was not for signaling political alignments, says Raj Thackeray

Nashik: Days after his ‘victory rally' with Uddhav Thackeray in Mumbai, MNS chief Raj Thackeray has said that the joint event was for the cause of Marathi language and not for signalling possible political alignments.

The MNS chief was speaking to a group of journalists in an informal interaction in Igatpuri. People privy to the interaction said that Thackeray said that there are still a few months for the civic elections in Maharashtra and a decision regarding any alliance for the polls will be taken by him depending on the situation then.

Earlier this month, Raj Thackeray and his estranged cousin Uddhav Thackeray shared the stage for the first time in 20 years, leading to speculation about a pre-poll alliance between Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS for civic polls.

Raj is in Igatpuri for a three-day meeting with select 120 office-bearers of MNS from across the state. After his arrival at the venue, he had an informal chat with the media persons.

Raj told the group of journalists that the decision of coming together politically cannot be taken hurriedly. There are many things that need to be understood, and the victory rally was limited to the language issue only, and there was nothing political in it, he told the reporters. As far as the alliance is concerned, wait till the elections are announced, maybe in November, people privy to the interaction said.

Raj also supported his cousin Uddhav Thackeray with regards to the Marathi issue. When the implementation of the three-language formula was proposed by the Centre, Uddhav Thackeray, as a chief minister, set up a committee and sidelined the issue. It is the Mahayuti govt that went in for accepting the formula, he told the group of journalists.

The MNS chief also urged the state govt to convert the Marathi-medium schools into Semi-English Medium schools and cited an example of a school from Mumbai. "When Balmohan School in Mumbai was limited to Marathi, the number of students was on the decline. But after it started the semi-English mode, the enrollment shot up. Thackeray, therefore, urged the state to take up the step and convert all schools to a semi-English pattern," the sources added.