Mumbai, Oct 22 : Having almost doubled its strength in the Maharashtra Assembly this year in comparison to what it had previously, the Raj Thackeray- led Maharashtra Navanirman Sena
(MNS) on Thursday said it is ready to offer outside support to the Congress – Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) combine, which is almost certain to form the government in the state for a third consecutive time.

However, incumbent Chief Minster Ashok Chavan said the Congress- NCP alliance would be looking at the Republican Party of India (RPI) for possible outside support if it fell short of the majority mark.

With leads available for all 288 seats, the Congress-NCP alliance is ahead in 147 seats followed by the Shiv Sena-BJP in 104. Raj Thackeray’s MNS has emerged as the surprise package with victories or leads in 17 seats, way beyond the 8-10 seats even party insiders had forecast.

The MNS opened its account with the victory of two of its nominees: from Vikhroli, Mangesh Sangle defeated NCP’s Pallavi Patil, wife of Lok Sabha member Sanjay Patil and Shiv Sena’s Datta Dalvi; also, MNS nominee Ramesh Wanjale got elected from Khadakvasla.

The other prominent winners are Chief Minister Ashok Chavan from Bhokar, former Chief Minister Narayan Rane from Kudal, NCP minister Ajit Pawar from Baramati, Sushilkumar Shinde’s daughter Praniti from Solapur City Central, NCP nominee from Kalwan, A T Pawar and Shivendraje Bhosale from Satara.

Meanwhile, President Pratibha Patil’s son Rajendra Shekhawat is locked in a tough fight with Congress rebel and State Minister Sunil Deshmukh in the high-profile Amravati constituency. (ANI)