Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) has a lone MLA in the 288-seat Maharashtra Assembly. His tactics of attacking the Narendra Modi-led central government left, right and centre before the polls did win him applause from all corners, but the appreciation didn't translate into votes.
After the polls in October, the Maha Vikas Aghadi was formed to leave BJP out. In order to fit into the alliance of Congress and NCP, Shiv Sena which was popularly known as a Hindutva party, had to become "secular" while signing the Common Minimum Programme.
Now, Raj Thackeray's MNS has decided to use the "Hindutva" void created in Maharashtra after Uddhav Thackeray's Sena became "secular". It is also said that with accepting the Hindutva ideology, Raj aims to go closer to BJP.
A senior MNS leader told Hindustan Times that on January 23 Raj Thackeray is likely to unveil the party’s new flag – a saffron flag with Shivaji Maharaj’s rajmudra (seal) on it. January 23 incidentally is Raj's mentor and Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray's birth anniversary.
In 2006, Raj had unveiled the old flag which had three colours- blue, saffron and green which symbolically meant Dalits, Hindus and Muslims but the MNS leader said it represented all sections of society.