E-Paper
Raj criticises BMC, Thackeray family
Raj Thackeray also launched his party's campaign for next year's Mumbai muncipal corporation polls.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray on Friday launched his party's campaign for next year's Mumbai muncipal corporation polls with a scathing attack on the Shiv Sena-BJP controlled BMC and the Thackeray family.
Addressing a public meeting at Azad Maidan opposite the BMC headquarters in south Mumbai, Raj said his six-month-old party would launch campaigns against the apathy of civic bodies in Mumbai, Thane, Pune and Nashik next week.
Referring to a smear-campaign launched against him allegedly by the Shiv Sena over his real estate business, Raj said, "I have been doing business for the last 10 years, which is the source of my income. I do not run my household by collecting money through tenders."
"I know how to reply to such allegations. After all, I also come from the same (Thackeray) lineage," he said.
Identifying the rampant issuance of ration cards as the main cause behind the growing influx of migrants, including Bangladeshis, to Mumbai, Raj said his party would "lock up all offices issuing ration cards".
"Ration cards carry an instruction saying that the card cannot be used for any other purpose except for buying rations. Then why are they being used to issue taxi permits, issue passports and a lot other things?" he said in his 40-minute speech.
MNS will put up boards at reserved and dereserved plots in Mumbai, specifying the purpose for which they were originally demarcated, he said.
Referring to BJP leader Gopinath Munde's remarks that he (Raj) should have made allegations of corruption and inefficiency while he was still in the Shiv Sena, Raj said he had tried to raise issues like illegal slums at party meetings but no action was taken on this issue.
"I did not have the power to appoint or remove even a shakha pramukh (branch head)," Raj said.
He said Munde had "come to him several times with complaints about Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray".
"But I will not speak on the issue as I have a different kind of culture," he said.
Illegal slums along the water supply lines to Mumbai and near the airport were a threat to the city's security, Raj said.
Before the meeting, Raj met Municipal Commissioner Johnny Joseph and submitted a memorandum on civic issues to him.
