‘Don’t worry, we will construct parks for you to hold rallies’
Friday, February 10, 2012
By A Special Correspondent
Taking a dig at MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar over availability of parks and grounds for political rallies, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray sarcastically remarked, “When we shall come back to power in BMC we shall develop playgrounds and parks in the development plan so that you can hold rallies and abuse us to your hearts content.”
Speaking to newspersons at Sena Bhavan after releasing the Mahayuti Vachannama – ‘Karun Dakhavnar’ (Shall Do It), he denied that the Sena was hand-in-glove with anyone and everyone. When asked whether the Sena was in favour of abolishing the octroi, Thackeray stated that the Sena was not in favour until and unless a viable alternative is provided to the civic body. He said that octroi was an important source of revenue for the BMC and it is not possible to shut off such a major source of revenue.
Replying to queries about slums on footpaths, Thackeray stated that the BMC is not sure as to who owns which portion of the road or plot of land. Many roads belong to the government. He added that the BMC cannot clean up storm water drains in railways and defence lands.
Asked to comment upon Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan’s remark that the Thackeray clans popularity would wane after February 16, Thackeray in turn retorted and wanted to know how many files the Chief Minister sat on without progress in the last one year. RPI-A leader Ramdas Athavale remarked that it would be Chavan who will have to go back to Delhi after February 16.
Replying to queries over the renaming of roads bearing British era names, the Sena executive president stated that once the Sena-BJP-RPI-A alliance comes to power the BMC will proceed to change the names of all such roads in the city. Earlier, while releasing the manifesto he said that the Congress-NCP manifesto has many points that are related to the Central Government or in their own jurisdiction. Despite this the state government has not done anything in the last two terms in office and are repeating them as promises in a bid to fool the voter.