With BMC polls coming up, Raj Thackeray waves Marathi card again

What better time to rake up the sons of the soil issue than before the BMC polls? No other politician knows this better than MNS chief Raj Thackeray.

Thackeray demanded that Marathi youth get auto permits and knowing Marathi must be mandatory for permit seekers

Thackeray met Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday to demand justice for the local people (read Marathi manoos) in jobs and other opportunities for them.

"Marathi-speaking youth must get auto permits and knowing Marathi must be mandatory for permit seekers," he said after the meeting, adding that a domicile certificate, a certificate of 15-year uninterrupted stay in Maharashtra, must be made compulsory for this also.

He said he has asked Fadnavis to adopt a domicile policy like in the BJP-ruled Jharkhand state, in Maharashtra.

"Even free housing is being allotted to people from other states and locals are denied this despite being eligible," he said.

He said IT industries were availing of government concessions but denying jobs to locals.

Thackeray reiterated his demand for closing down toll plazas on roads and highways.

"The issue of toll became relevant to the people only after the MNS raised it for the first time," he said.

He wondered why the people should pay government road tax because of bad road conditions, potholes and lack of pavements.

Fadnavis did not react to Thackeray's statements, but sources close to the CM said that he was doing a balancing act between the estranged Thackeray brothers by giving them a regular audience. Fadnavis has met the cousins at least thrice in the past three months.

The Sena and BJP are mulling on how to go about the BMC polls. The question before them is whether to go separate ways or contest in a pre-poll alliance. The MNS is significant in terms of the Marathi vote bank which is crucial to the results.