In an attempt to revive the sons-of-the-soil agenda 10 months before the Mumbai municipal polls, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Wednesday urged party workers to torch auto rickshaws with fresh government permits when they begin plying.
Addressing party workers on the 10th foundation day of his party at Shanmukhananda Hall in Dadar, Thackeray demanded the fresh permits be given only to Maharashtrians.
Stating that 70,000 new auto permits are likely to be issued by the government soon, Thackeray alleged that these new permits are aimed at benefitting industrialist Rahul Bajaj’s company, Bajaj Auto.
“70 to 72 per cent of the 70,000 auto permits are likely to be given to parprantiya (outsiders). All this is being done to benefit Rahul Bajaj. The entire lot of 70,000 autorickshaws is ready with Bajaj company, and the deal is worth Rs 1,190 crore,” Thackeray alleged.
He asked party workers to target new autos on the roads by requesting passengers to alight first before torching the vehicle. Reassuring party workers that MNS had not diluted or changed its agenda of working for the Marathi people, Thackeray said the MNS agitations had resulted in 1,400 jobs for Marathi youths in the Railways, and party vigilantes had caught out 40,000 fake auto permits.
He also told party workers not to be demotivated by the party’s electoral losses in the 2014 Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, and work for the party with renewed vigour.
In 2014 Lok Sabha polls, MNS failed to win a single seat, and managed to win just one seat in the 288-member Legislative Assembly.
