Udhav 'regrets' Mumbai loss, awaits assembly polls

Mumbai, May 20 (IANS) Shiv Sena leader Udhav Thackeray Wednesday expressed 'regret' over the saffron alliance's rout in Mumbai in the Lok Sabha polls, but said the party would make up in the Maharashtra assembly elections later this year.

'We really regret the loss in Mumbai,' he told the media. Thackeray said the outcome of the general elections in Mumbai and New Delhi - with both the metros swept by the Congress - was totally unexpected.

He said the Sena had started preparations for assembly elections and hoped the Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) combine would put up a good show in the assembly elections due by October.

Appearing somewhat subdued post-results, Thackeray said the party had contested the recent Lok Sabha elections on its own strength and without any star campaigners.

Asked about Sena chief Bal Thackeray's move to sever all ties with his nephew Raj Thackeray, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief, Udhav Thackeray said his father's decision was supreme and nobody could question it. The MNS is widely believed to have cut into Sena-BJP votes.

Udhav Thackeray said it was clear that unlike the MNS, the Sena never misused the Marathis for selfish motives.

'The Marathis have now realised this. The Marathi manoos is with the Sena and the Mumbaikar is also with the Sena. We shall rectify our mistakes and put up a good performance in the assembly elections,' Udhav Thackeray said.

In the Lok Sabha 2009 results, the Sena managed to bag 11 seats while its ally, the BJP, got another nine seats in Maharashtra. In 2004, Sena had got 12 while the BJP had 13 - a loss of five seats - from the total 48 Lok Sabha constituencies in the state.

The MNS had put candidates in 12 constituencies in the 2009 elections and on three seats, its contestants stood second while in the remaining they bagged the third position.

Udhav Thackeray Wednesday introduced to the media all the 11 party MPs who have been elected. They are: Pratap Jadhav (Buldana), Anandrao Adsul (Amravati), Bhavana Gawli (Yavatmal), Subhash Wankhde (Hingoli), Ganesh Dudhgaonkar (Parbhani), Chandrakant Khaire (Aurangabad), Anand Paranjpe (Kalyan), Anant Geete (Raigad), Gajanan Babar (Maval), Shivajirao A. Patil (Shirur) and Bhausaheb Waghchure (Shirdi).