Rebel Thackeray’s new raj is floundering

The ambitious announcements made two months ago, seem to have been forgotten. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president Raj Thackeray has failed to deliver even a fraction of what he had promised, said a bored cadre.

Tired of waiting and confused about the proposed plans of the party, many cadre of the new-born MNS are looking for an opportunity to change camp.

Congress and Nationalist Congress Party sources claimed they had been inundated with calls from MNS cadre for membership. The high commands of both parties have directed their block and district-level leaderships to make the most of the opportunity.

MNS cadre complained that the party was toeing the Shiv Sena line. “We quit the Sena because of coterie politics. But it is the same thing here. Equal opportunities for all is a distant dream,” an MNS member told DNA on condition of anonymity.

It had been nearly two months since his first public address after the formation of MNS on March 19, but Raj has not yet unveiled his much-hyped blueprint for Maharashtra. The once-swelling crowd at his Shivaji Park residence has now diminished to a trickle. Many of the cadre blamed it on the leader’s lack of total involvement.

“If we do not implement what we have promised, it will be difficult to win people’s trust. We have long been waiting to start work, but there hadn’t been any,” said a card-holding MNS member.

On that March evening, a charged up Raj had promised a mammoth gathering to make the city safe for women.  “We will have MNS units at railway stations to ensure that our sisters and mothers are not eve-teased and harassed,” he had said.

But ever since, the issue had not even been discussed within the party, rued MNS sources. The setting up of an employment cell seems to be another forgotten promise.