Raj Thackeray may not field candidate against nephew Aaditya Thackeray in Worli

As Shiv Sena scion Aaditya Thackeray is all set to file his nomination from Worli Assembly constituency, the MNS-led by his uncle Raj Thackeray may not field any of its candidate against him.

According to sources in the MNS, Raj Thackeray who quit the Shiv Sena to form his own party — the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena — doesn’t want to send across a negative message by fielding a candidate against his nephew Aditya Thackeray who is making his electoral debut. Aaditya is the first ever person in the Thackeray clan to contest any form of election.

The MNS has sizeable presence in the Worli assembly seat and has garnered more than 32,000 votes in the 2009 assembly elections but in 2014, it’s vote share fell down to just over 8,000.

“This time, the two party leaders Nitin Nandgaonkar and Sanjay Dhuri were interested in contesting, but sources say that Raj has shown a red flag to them to avoid any wrong message,” a senior party functionary told.

However, an official announcement regarding this is awaited.

The NCP too may not contest the seat and leave it to one of its lesser-known ally People’s Republican and Socialist Party’s (PRSP) Dr Suresh Mane. NCP’s Sachin Ahir won the seat in 2009 and lost to Shiv Sena’s Sunil Shinde in 2014. Sachin Ahir recently joined the Shiv Sena