MNS supports Modi, not BJP, says Raj Thackeray

Maharashtra Navanirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray today reiterated that his support is only restricted to BJP prime ministerial Narendra Modi and not to the party per se. “I support Modi not the BJP. If as the chief minister he has proved his credentials and there is a belief he can deliver nationally then there should not be any problem in supporting him,” Thackeray told Times Now during an interview.[caption id=“attachment_1485435” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  MNS chief Raj Thackeray. Parag Shinde/Firstpost[/caption] However, the MNS chief also added a caveat that his support for Modi is for the larger interest of the country but he would not support BJP prime ministerial candidate blind-folded. “I am an admirer of his work so I supporting him as a prime ministerial candidate. But this does not mean that I will support every statement of his,” he said. Thackeray also raised objections to Modi’s claim for the top job showcasing his work in Gujarat. “A prime ministerial candidate should have a a national image. It is not good that a chief minister becomes a prime ministerial aspirant only by projecting his achievements in his own state,” he said. Thackeray rejected that he was disturbed by BJP president Rajnath Singh’s comments of ‘unsolicited support’ referring to MNS support for Modi. “I am not bothered about that. My support is for Modi. I don’t care about Rajnath Singh,” he said. The MNS chief said that he had no intention of replacing the Shiv Sena in the NDA and it was falsely spread by his parent party. He also blamed the Shiv Sena for raking in Balasaheb Thackeray’s name in the growing rift between the two Mumbai-based parties. “In the last one and half years I haven’t criticise the Shiv Sena. But they went overboard even when I met Nitin Gadkari couple of months back. If he (Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray) had a problem with that he should have spoken to me over the phone. He was the one who had said that Shiv Sena won’t talk with a backstabber of Balasaheb. Even Balasaheb did not feel I had back-stabbed him. I never ever dragged Balasaheb’s name in my fight with Shiv Sena. It was they who started it,” Thackeray said.