MNS chief Raj Thackeray sought to shed his anti-north Indian image during an address to party workers on Sunday, triggering speculations that he was trying to get close to the BJP ahead of the BMC elections. As he trained his guns on Rahul Gandhi, his estranged cousin Uddhav Thackeray and Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari, he was unusually soft on Uttar Pradesh, which was once his favourite punching bag. 

Addressing MNS workers at NESCO, Goregaon, Raj said the 2008 railway agitation by his party, which had led to attacks on several north Indian candidates appearing for the All India Railway Recruitment Board entrance exam for the Western region in Mumbai, was given a different colour by the Hindi media. He insisted that the agitation was against candidates who had come only from Bihar and not against the state.