MNS leaders could face the rap for poor show in their areas

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is likely to crack down on office bearers and legislators who failed to perform in this year's civic elections.

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray is likely to crack down on office bearers and legislators who failed to perform in this year's civic elections.

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Sources say Thackeray is upset with his legislators including Bala Nandgaonkar, Pravin Darekar, Mangesh Sangle and Ram Kadam who were unable to farm votes for MNS candidates in their constituencies. Bala Nandgaonkar, who heads the party in the legislative assembly, couldn't stop any of the five candidates from his Sewri constituency from losing to the Shiv Sena. At Magathane, Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Pravin Darekar could salvage only two of the seven seats for his party, of which one went to his brother. Similarly, Ram Kadam was able to help just one of the six MNS candidates from Ghatkopar to a win. In Vikhroli, Mangesh Sangle managed to bag only of the four seats for his party; the seat happened to be the one he held in the last corporation.

According to a senior party leader who chose not to be named, the scenario would have been different had these leaders taken things seriously. "We could not get a single seat in the Lalbaug-Parel area and scraped with a lone seat in Ghatkopar and Vikhroli where we have our MLAs," the leader said. "Local office bearers took things for granted and relied on Raj Thackeray's charisma, instead of working for the party," he added.