Raj Thackeray

MNS chief said party had not withdrawn agitation against rickshaws driven by outsiders.

Raj Thackeray on Saturday clarified he had not withdrawn his party’s agitation against new autorickshaws, but only asked his party workers to wait till new auto rickshaws appeared on the road. He also criticised the government’s decision to regularise two lakh houses, questioning why no action was being taken against builders who committed irregularities in the first place. He alleged that the decision had been taken to please the builder lobby.

Addressing his party workers on Wednesday on the occasion of his party’s 10th anniversary, Mr Thackeray had asked them to burn any new autorickshaws of “outsiders” that they see on Mumbai roads. He has claimed that 70 per cent of the new 70,000 permits issued by the state government have been given to “outsiders” in Maharashtra.

However, on Friday he issued a statement asking his party workers not to start the agitation until further orders from him as “new autorickshaws are not out yet.”

The MNS leader, who was in Nashik on Saturday, said, “I have not gone back on my stand. I have asked MNS workers to wait because the autorickshaws that we are going to target are not yet out on the roads.”

Accusing the BJP-led government of working for the builder lobby. he said that the government’s decision to regularise two lakh structures in the state was taken after discussion with the builder lobby.

“The builders who cheated common people by carrying out illegal constructions will go scot-free. Residents need to be protected because they were victims of the builders. But what about the accountability of builders The state government has struck a deal with the builder lobby,” Mr Thackeray said.

Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had on Friday announced a new policy to regularise over two lakh illegal houses in the state.

Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar defended the government’s decision and said people who are criticising it do not have knowledge of ground realities. “There are housing societies that cannot get fungible FSI for redevelopment because of small irregularities. Such societies are going to be benefited by the decision and not builders,” he said.