Addressing a mammoth rally at Malvan in Sindhudurg district on Saturday, the Sena chief said he could have made a deal with Congress only if it agreed to his three conditions but once they heard the conditions, they never got back to him.

Significantly, though Thackeray talked about three conditions, he disclosed only two to the stunned crowd. Firstly, Thackeray said he had made it clear to the Congress that under no circumstances will he accept Congress President Sonia Gandhi as prime ministerial candidate and secondly, he said, he told the Congress to change its concept of secularism. ``The Congress' view of secularism is to appease Muslims. I do not believe in such a concept of secularism,'' Thackeray added.

Accompanied by his son Uddhav and formerChief Minister Narayan Rane, Thackeray was on special two-day tour of the Konkan region to thank the electorate for their massive mandate for the Shiv Sena. Besides two parliamentary seats, Rajapur and Ratnagiri won by Suresh Prabhu and Anant Gite, the Sena-BJP combine won all the 11 seats in Sindhudurg and Ratnagiri districts.

Predicting a downfall of the Democratic Front government headed by Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh, the Sena chief said ``we will not topple the government, but I am sure it will fall on its own and again a Sena-BJP government.''

Besides the meeting at Malvan on Saturday, Thackeray also addressed largely attended rallies at Lanja and Khed on Sunday.

In his hour-long speech at Malvan, Thackeray blasted the Democratic Front government for its revengeful attitude towards Sena-BJP. ``We were at the helm of affairs for more than four years, but we never took revenge against any politician or an official. We ruled gracefully,'' he remarked.

Thackeray also pointed out that though thenew government was claiming that the Sena-BJP had left no money even for routine activities of the administration, it was planning to buy expensive vehicles for its ministers. ``I feel their criticism is for obvious political reasons and electorate of Maharashtra will not take it seriously,'' he said.

Thackeray also declared that he would soon call on Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to press for his long standing demand on electoral reforms.