In Sawantwadi constituency of Konkan where MNS and Shiv Sena are locked in a fierce fight, MNS chief Raj Thackeray on Saturday chose to attack Prime Minister Narendra Modi and NCP leader Ajit Pawar instead. He, however, did not speak against Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, NCP chief Sharad Pawar or Congress leader from Konkan, Narayan Rane.
Arriving half an hour behind schedule to a reception from over 5,000 people at Gymkhana Ground in Sawantwadi, Raj refused to spare any moment for his felicitation or occupy the special chair meant for the chief guest. He took control of the mike and launched a tirade against Ajit Pawar and Modi.
He said Modi was in effect campaigning for NCP and Congress. “BJP has imported as many as 60 aspirants from Congress and NCP. They have been fielded in different constituencies of Maharashtra,” he said adding BJP has freely imported candidates from Congress-NCP whom it accused of corruption. “Now the same candidates like Pachpute and Gavit whom BJP had been accusing of corruption all the time are BJP candidates. If BJP comes to power, should we say then BJP government is corrupt?,” he asked.
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Raj trained his guns on Ajit Pawar whose “urine” remarks had angered people. “In a state where 60,000 farmers have committed suicide due to drought which wrecked their livelhood, Ajit Pawar has the temerity to say: should I urinate in dams if there is no water in them…” Raj added,”Voters should give a befitting reply to rulers like Ajit Pawar.”
“Citing the case of Sena candidate Deepak Kesarkar who was with NCP during the Lok Sabha elections and is now fighting on a Sena ticket from Sawantwadi, Raj said,”He was first in Janata Dal, then in Sena, Congress and for seven days he was in NCP. Are you going to elect candidates who have no moral values,” he said.
Raj said people allow themselves to be taken for granted by rulers like Ajit Pawar. “You allow yourself to be taken for granted. Tyanna janachi nahin, manachi nahin laaj urleli nahin…(They have no shame at all..)” He turned to voters,”Are you youngsters going to allow our beautiful state of Maharashtra to be wrecked by such rulers who have no values?,” he asked.
Raj showered praise on Goa. “Look at the tiny state of Goa. The rulers there have successfully been able to market Goa to tourists. As per my information, 1,000-1,200 private planes from Europe, America, Japan land in Goa every year. “Goa is a shining example of how tourism can turn around economy of the state. Youngsters of Goa don’t have to go to other states for jobs,” he said.
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He urged people of Maharashtra to give him a chance to change the face of the state. “Give me a chance to rule the state. On tourism alone, I will generate Rs 15,000 crore revenue. This will help us generate 10-12 lakh jobs for youths in Maharashtra,” he said. Raj said Konkan could have been developed and marketed like Goa. “But our rulers have no vision. Both rulers and opponents sail in the same boat. Had proper planning been done and imagination applied, Konkan could have become a haven…Youths would not have been forced to go to Mumbai for jobs,” he said.
Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades.
Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives.
Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees.
During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa.
Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died.
Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More
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