The new saffron flag has Shivaji Maharaj's Rajmudra.
Amit Thackeray at the event held at Nesco Centre in Goregaon. (Photo: Satej Shinde)
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray unveiled the party's new flag on the occasion of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray's birthday, on Thursday and appointed his son Amit Thackeray as a leader in the party.
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The new saffron flag has Shivaji Maharaj's Rajmudra, and was launched at the party's first Maha Adhiveshan at Nesco Centre in Goregaon. The party also appropriated VD Savarkar, and Raj Thackeray will unveil his party's new agenda at a rally in the evening.
The party unveiled the new flag which has Shivaji Maharaj's Rajmudra. (Photo: Satej Shinde)
The event began with Thackeray paying tributes to Bal Thackeray and garlanding a photo of Veer Savarkar along with BR Ambedkar, Probodhankar Thackeray and Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
After the party suffered humiliating defeats in the recently held Maharashtra Assembly elections, there were rumours of MNS joining hands with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However, former chief minister Devendra Fadnavis denied reports of a tie-up stating that the two parties had different ideologies.
Amit Thackeray at the event. (Photo: Satej Shinde)
Raj Thackeray founded the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on March 9, 2006. His party won seven seats in the 2007 Maharashtra civic elections. The figure jumped four-fold when MNS won 28 seats in the 2012 municipal elections. In the 2009 parliamentary elections, MNS-fielded candidates bagged over a lakh votes each in all the six parliamentary constituencies of Mumbai.
Raj Thackeray's party MNS' growth in Mumbai and Maharashtra came to a standstill during the 2014 elections. In 2014, his party's graph started to see a decline. During the 2014 elections, Raj announced support to BJP’s then Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, as he reportedly wanted to ensure the defeat of Shiv Sena candidates. But, the move backfired and all 10 MNS candidates forfeited their deposits. However, during the 2019 elections, Raj Thackeray campaigned loud and clear against the BJP and questioned the prime minister about unemployment, demonetisation, economic slowdown amongst other.
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