Much talk but last-minute manifesto by Raj

MUMBAI: He was never short on words or promises throughout the electioneering period, but it was in the hours before campaigning for the Assembly elections ended on Sunday that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray finally put these on paper and released a manifesto. Called ‘Vachaknama’, the manifesto calls for 100 per cent reservation for Marathi speakers in private and public sector jobs and organised and unorganised sectors, zero tolerance for illegal constructions, houses for Maharashtrians at affordable rates, making Marathi a compulsory subject till Class X and accordance of priority to Maharashtrian students in institutions of higher and technical education.Raj reiterated that migrants were not welcome to stay and build houses wherever they pleased in the state, with the MNS manifesto saying that while 20 lakh people had lost jobs in four years according to the state’s economic survey for 2008-2009, 32.80 lakh migrants had entered the state in the same period to seek jobs.

PM says MNS will be taught a lesson

MUMBAI: Addressing a rally in Mumbai before campaigning drew to close on Sunday, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh urged Mumbaikars to vote for the Congress to improve infrastructure in the metropolis. “Mumbai needs much greater attention... biggest thing to be done in this regard is improvement of infrastructure... I submit to you today that only a Congress-led government can have the perspective and vision to enable Mumbai and Maharashtra to play the roles they should in nation building,” said Singh in a statement, calling it “a vote for politics that unites” and a vote against “the agenda of dividing society and creating tensions in it”. Asked about the anti-outsider campaign launched by MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Singh said: “I am sure that the people of Maharashtra will give a fitting reply.”

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