Thaindian News

Mumbai, June 8 (IANS) Three Maharashtra opposition parties have made elaborate plans for their proposed ‘Chale Jao’ (quit office) rally against the ruling Democratic Front government here Thursday, an organiser said.

The agitation, by the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party-Republican Party of India (SS-BJP-RPI) combine, will kickstart the opposition parties’ campaign for civic elections in different parts of the state, including Mumbai, Thane and Pune, scheduled early 2012.

The three parties have claimed that their combined strength would draw over a million activists at Azad Maidan in south Mumbai for the rally Thursday.

The three parties aim to “expose” the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance on issues like corruption, inflation and atrocities on Dalits.

Top opposition leaders, including Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray, RPI president Ramdas Athawale, deputy leader of the BJP in the Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde, and the state’s Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse are expected to address the rally.

“The rally, being held in the midst of a massive nation-wide anti-corruption movement, would contribute in its own way to the crusade against corruption by highlighting the scams that the Congress-led United Progress Alliance government at the centre is mired in,” a BJP official said Wednesday.

The opposition leaders claimed their alliance was not for any election, including the early 2012 civic polls in Mumbai and other major cities, but to expose the failure of the government on various counts.

In the past 10 days, top leaders of the three parties made efforts to drum up support for the rally.

They toured Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur, all considered Dalit strongholds.

According to state BJP general secretary Vinod Tawade, state-level leaders of the three parties would hold similar rallies in Aurangabad, Pune, Mumbai, Nashik and Nagpur over the next few months.