Raj visits Dombivli to select candidates

Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), visited Dombivli on Wednesday to take stock of his party’s preparedness for the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation polls.

Raj Thackeray, chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), visited Dombivli on Wednesday to take stock of his party’s preparedness for the Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation polls.

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Raj, who also wanted to finalise the list of candidates for the elections, will be in Dombivli for the next two days.

Raj refused to speak to journalists. “Let me first finalise the list of our candidates. Once that is done, I will call you and answer your questions,” he said.

Sources from the MNS said Raj was in Dombivli to sort out certain problems related to distribution of tickets.

Raj met prospective candidates from all 32 wards — 18 from Kalyan and 14 from Dombivli — and will continue to do so on Thursday.

The MNS is looking at the Kalyan-Dombivli polls as a rehearsal for the 2012 municipal corporation elections in Mumbai and Thane. Raj has decided to camp in Dombivli to during the campaign and has deputed senior leaders of his party to lead it.

The Kalyan-Dombivli belt is home to a large number of Maharashtrian families, who migrated here after textile mills in Mumbai shut.

It secured a lead in 37 of 107 municipal constituencies.