Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024: Raj Thackeray unveils MNS manifesto; presents roadmap to fulfill promises on waste management, biodiversity

PIC/ASHISH RAJE

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray unveiled his party's manifesto at MIG Club in Bandra on Friday, five days before the state polls, scheduled to be held on November 20.

Waving the inaugural copy of the new poll manifesto, 'We Will Deliver', Thackeray said that while all the other parties are promising what they will do, his outfit is also presenting a roadmap to the voters and saying "how" it would fulfil its promises, if elected to power after the Maharashtra Assembly Election 2024.

Thackeray also released a booklet titled 'What We Did' in the nearly 19-year-long history of MNS, which was founded on March 9, 2006, after the party chief had quit the Shiv Sena.

There are four sections in the MNS manifesto:

• Basic needs
• Communication, electricity, water planning, solid waste management, and environmental biodiversity
• Growth opportunities and the agricultural policy of the state
• Marathi identity

Won't hold rally at Shivaji Park on Sunday: Raj Thackeray

While speaking to mediapersons, Thackeray also said that he will not be holding a rally at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on Sunday as the Election Commission (EC) is yet to grant his party permission for the event.

Instead, he would visit assembly segments in Mumbai and Thane to canvass for MNS candidates, news agency PTI said.

"I still have not got the permission and I have one-and-a-half days for the meeting. In these one-and-a-half days, holding rallies would become difficult. Instead, I will visit assembly seats in Mumbai and Thane," the MNS chief said.

Apart from MNS, the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) has also been denied permission by EC to hold a rally at the iconic Shivaji Park on Sunday.

According to PTI, campaigning for the November 20 Maharashtra Assembly Elections 2024 ends at 5 pm on November 18.

Besides being known as the cradle of Indian cricket, Shivaji Park, located in central Mumbai, was the venue for Bal Thackeray's first Dussehra rally after he founded the Shiv Sena in 1966. A Dussehra rally at the ground then became a Sena tradition.

Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, who is the MNS chief's politically estranged cousin, said last week that his party had sought permission for a rally at Shivaji Park for Sunday, which is also the death anniversary of the Shiv Sena founder.

That day, he said, lakhs of Bal Thackeray's followers would congregate at the ground. After he died in 2012, Bal Thackeray was also cremated at Shivaji Park.

"So we are telling the Election Commission and the police not to complicate the matter. Shiv Sainiks will anyway flock there and you cannot stop them. No Model Code of Conduct is applicable here. So to avoid any tussle and allow us to hold a rally on November 17," he had said.

(With PTI inputs)