aharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray is exploring the option of not fielding candidates in the upcoming Lok Sabha elections to hide the disarray in his party. Thackeray is likely to announce his decision at a rally in Pune on 9 February.

A source close to Thackeray told The Sunday Guardian that he was not happy with the party's preparations for the Lok Sabha elections. The party has not been able to raise any new people-friendly issues for a long time. Thackeray met his party's office bearers from across the state at a closed door meeting in Pune on Friday to gauge their mood. According to an MNS leader, Thackeray reprimanded them for indulging in factionalism and ignoring public issues. "Most of you are more interested in nurturing your vested interests than the party's. If you are dreaming of grabbing power in the state and are interested only in the Assembly elections why should we test our preparations in the Lok Sabha elections?" Thackeray asked them.

"He scolded us for ignoring the party organisation. We had no answers to his argument over our ill-preparedness for the LS elections. I will not be surprised if he decides to pull out (of the LS elections). Zakali muth savva lakhachi (Silence is always golden). Saheb (Thackeray) may earn Narendra Modi's sympathy by staying away. He can use that for further gains in the Assembly elections," the leader said. The Maharashtra Assembly elections are due in September.

Some MNS MLAs had suggested to Thackeray last month that he should join hands with the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance because they believed that it would be difficult for them to get re-elected otherwise. Thackeray discarded their suggestion.

The MNS workers feel that they are losing direction. Thackeray has not given them any programme for more than a year. "The Marathi pride issue does not have an appeal this time. Our MLAs have failed to leave an imprint. We have nothing to show to the voters," an MNS official said. The MNS also failed to keep its promise to transform Nashik into a better living place. The party is in power in the local municipal corporation.

Maharashtra BJP president Devendra Phadnavis made it clear that they would not ask the MNS to join its alliance. "The topic of MNS is over for us now," he said. If the MNS is not in the fray, the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance will have an advantage because they have a common voter base. The MNS had contested 12 out of the state's 48 Lok Sabha seats in 2009. All the MNS candidates bagged more than one lakh votes but could not win any seats. But this resulted in a defeat for the Shiv Sena-BJP in 11 constituencies.