Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, MNS, president Raj Thackeray today declared that his party will contest the upcoming general elections ending a week of speculation on the issue.

Addressing MNS eighth anniversary celebrations in Mumbai today Raj Thackeray declared that his party will support BJP's Narendra Modi for Prime Minister's post after the elections. However, Raj declined Bharatiya Janapa Party's (BJP) proposal to join Sena-BJP alliance and has decided to go alone. Thackeray declared the first list of MNS candidates contesting general elections in Maharashtra in which just one of the seven nominees is pitted against a BJP candidate while the other six will take on rival Shiv Sena nominees.

Reacting cautiously to Raj’s move, BJP leader Vinod Tawde urged party workers to ensure that any attempt to create confusion among its constituents does not succeed. He said that if common voter is confused it may result in division of votes.

In 2009 elections, MNS fielded candidates in 11 Lok Sabha seats. Though it drew blank, the party finished second in some of these seats and polled over one lakh votes in each of them.