MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Friday hit out at the state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, questioning the latters decision to contest from Kothrud instead of his native place Kohlapur. Speaking at a public rally, Thackeray said, "Chandrakant Patil is basically from Kolhapur. Why is he scared of contesting from Kolhapur and why is he contesting from Kothrud?" "The atmosphere was not such in Maharashtra some 10-15 years ago when a candidate of a particular community had to be fielded from that constituency, with major representation from people of that community. Do we want to make Maharashtra like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh?" the MNS chief said. Thackeray further said, "Former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh an intellectual person, a great economist who is appreciated in world universities like Oxford etc. He has said that economic slowdown is affecting the country badly." "Manmohan Singh has said whatever has happened, the economic slowdown is just a beginning and it is going to affect Maharashtra a lot," Thackeray said. "In last 5 years 14,000 farmers have committed suicide in Maharashtra that means one farmer has committed suicide in every 3 hours," he added. Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates

Stay updated with all the Latest Kolhapur headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.