Raj Thackeray to make his electoral debut in Maharashtra assembly polls

Mumbai: After the drubbing his party received in Lok Sabha elections, MNS president Raj Thackeray announced on Saturday that he and his party would contest the assembly elections in Maharashtra due later this year and would be the Chief Minister if his party got the mandate.

Nobody in the Thackeray family has ever contested an election or held any government post.

Raj went one step further and made it clear that he would become the Chief Minister if his party romps home in the electoral battle.

"People have a lot of love for and expectations from our party. If the mandate is for MNS, I will not hesitate to lead it," he said.

MNS, which had declared support to Narendra Modi for the Prime Minister's post and fielded just nine candidates, mostly against Shiv Sena, in Lok Sabha polls, had suffered a wash-out. Many of its candidates even lost their deposits.