Mumbai, January 5 (IANS). Ahead of the important Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections, Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) on Monday released the list of its 40 star campaigners. This list includes party chief Uddhav Thackeray, Aditya Thackeray and senior leaders like Sanjay Raut and Sushma Andhare.
Voting for 29 municipalities of Maharashtra will be held on January 15 and the results will be declared on January 16.
The Thackeray faction has fielded its most influential leaders to win the local bodies. The list of 40 members includes Subhash Desai, MP Sanjay Raut, Arvind Sawant, Priyanka Chaturvedi and former MP Vinayak Raut.
Regional stalwarts include Bhaskar Jadhav, Ambadas Danve and Anil Parab, while Varun Sardesai and Aadesh Bandekar represent the youth and cultural wing. Other prominent names include party MLAs Sunil Prabhu, Sachin Ahir, Nitin Deshmukh and party spokesperson Anand Dubey.
Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder chief Raj Thackeray are going to hold their first joint rally in Vikhroli on Monday. This is a major change in the political situation in Mumbai, as both the leaders are coming together for the upcoming municipal elections.
The event in the eastern suburbs is the first of seven to eight joint rallies planned across the state. It is expected that the leaders will visit the local offices (branches) of Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS together to boost the morale of the workers.
Uddhav Thackeray has been visiting party branches for the last two days and urging party workers to work unitedly to defeat the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance.
The manifesto clearly talks about ‘Marathi Mayor’ and emphasizes that Mumbai land will be reserved mainly for Mumbaikars.
Earlier on Sunday, Shiv Sena (UBT) and MNS released their joint manifesto named ‘Vachan Nama’ for the BMC elections, in which several promises have been made. These include Swabhiman Nidhi with a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 for domestic workers and Koli women (fishing women), one lakh affordable houses in five years, formation of a dedicated BMC housing authority, 100 units of free electricity from Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport to residential users, breakfast and lunch at Rs 10 and reducing the minimum bus fare to Rs 5, employment allowance and interest-free loans to gig workers and five Medical colleges are included.
–IANS
SAK/VC