Mumbai: With dates for Assembly polls likely to be announced anytime soon, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena is gearing up to launch its campaign with the unveiling of a 'blue print' for the state's development on September 25.
The blueprint will include issues concerning the common man, a party leader said.
"For the last several decades, elections have been fought on the same issues, but nothing has changed. We will not just raise issues like education and electricity for the sake of elections, but also tell people that we have solutions to their problems and will solve them in a specific time-frame," MNS Vice President Vageesh Saraswat said.
Asked about the delay of eight years in unveiling the party's 'blue print', Saraswat said the time is now right as MNS Chief Raj Thackeray himself will take the electoral plunge and assure the people that all promises he will make will be fulfilled.
He said like Prime Minister Narendra Modi is popular nationwide, Raj Thackeray is popular as an individual in Maharashtra.
"Raj saheb will contest the Assembly elections and the party will fight close to 200 seats. After September 25, we will launch our campaign and tour every nook and corner of the state," he said.
The party is confident that Lok Sabha and Assembly voting patterns are different and people do an analysis and then exercise their franchise, Saraswat said.
The Raj Thackeray-led party, which entered the state's electoral politics in 2009 Lok Sabha and Assembly polls, contested 10 seats in the parliamentary elections earlier this year and polled a mere 0.13 per cent votes. Its candidates lost deposit in all the 10 seats.
In the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, MNS bagged over 1.5 lakh votes in each of the 12 seats it contested and in the Assembly elections that year, it contested 143 seats and won 13.
Despite the poor showing, the party is of the opinion that critics who are writing it off are under an "illusion", Saraswat said.
He rejected criticism that MNS has become insignificant in the state politics.
"Those who don't do preparation and homework always fail.
MNS has completed its homework and now we are ready to play on our home pitch," he said.
MNS has shed its "aggressive" image and worked to just focus on the state's development, he said.
However, refusing to divulge any further, he said, "We don't disclose our strategy to give ideas to our rivals."
Saraswat said the Lok Sabha polls held in May this year were to make Narendra Modi the Prime Minister.
"Except Modi, everyone lost the elections," he said.
