Thaindian News

Mumbai, Oct 6 (IANS) Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray Thursday called upon the people to “burn to ashes” the Congress, which he likened to the demon king Ravan.

Addressing the party’s traditional Dussehra rally at the historic Shivaji Park, Thackeray said “the Congress’s many faces of corruption are like the 10-headed Ravan” and people should get rid of it.

“Do not allow the Congress to come back (to power) in either Mumbai, Maharashtra or the centre,” Thackeray said, literally kicking off the Shiv Sena’s campaign for the February 2012 Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections.

Adopting an aggressive stance, Thackeray said there was no option but to crush the Congress and vowed that his party “would not rest till it finished off the Congress” at all levels, even as the massive crowds cheered.

Touching upon the problems of Mumbai, Thackeray said that though the city contributes nearly three-fourths of the tax revenue to the country’s exchequer, it hardly gets anything in return.

“While only two percent is ploughed back to Mumbai, Delhi gets 22 percent. Why this discrimination,” he asked.

Referring to the problems of mill-workers in the city, Thackeray demanded they must be given decent homes in Mumbai.

“It is because of the sacrifice of the mill-workers that Mumbai came to Maharashtra. Justice must be done to them,” he said.

Taking a potshot at Congress President Sonia Gandhi, Thackeray — without naming her — called upon the Congress leaders to “stop slaving for the foreinger”.

“You can import anything but a foreigner leader,” Thackeray said.

He reiterated his party’s stance that the proposed Jaitapur Nuclear Power Project (JNPP) in Ratnagiri “would not be allowed to come up”.

However, Thackeray claimed the Shiv Sena Dussehra rally was not the launching pad for the party’s election campaign for the ensuing BMC elections.