Raj's day of reckoning; to address first public meeting

Mumbai, Mar 18 (UNI) Raj Thackeray, who announced the name of his new political outfit--Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS)-- last week after resigning from the Shiv Sena four months ago, will formally launch the party tommorrow at his first public rally at Shivaji Park, Dadar in Central Mumbai.

Incidentally, his uncle Bal Thackeray had addressed a record number of Dassera rallies of the Sena from the same venue for the last 39 years.

According to Shirish Parkar, a close confidante of Raj who is overseeing the arrangements of tomorrow's rally, an estimated two lakh supporters are likely to attend the rally, which will mark the beginning of the latter's first independent innings as a political leader.

Raj's supporters in association with the traffic police have made elaborate plans for parking of vehicles, travel routes to prevent traffic congestion.

A medical team will also be on stand-by. There will be separate arrangements for women and mobile toilets would also be kept. Four large screens outside the Shivaji Park ground will enable the passers-by to see Raj deliver his speech, he said.

There will not be many speakers except one or two before Raj Thackeray takes the mike. The dias would be simple, Mr Parkar added.

Raj, who is known for his meticulous planning, had earlier organised various large scale events in Mumbai such as melody queen Lata Mangeshkar's first live concert and king of pop Michael Jackson's live show in the city. The last function that he had organised on a grand scale was the release of a pictorial book on his uncle Bal Thackeray at the Gateway of India last year.

Though Raj has reiterated that he will not speak against his uncle even though he (Bal Thackeray) may continue to criticise him, political observers are waiting to draw parallels between the Sena chief and Raj, who resembles his octagenerian uncle in looks and mannerism, and is also a cartoonist.

Unhappy with Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray's style of functioning, Raj had announced his resignation as Shiv Sena leader and president of the Bharatiya Vidyarthi Sena (BVS) in the first week of December last year and officially quit the party on December 18.

After the announcement of Raj's political outfit, when the reporters had asked Shiv Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray for his reaction, he had put it bluntly saying, it would not have any impact on the Sena.

After undertaking a state-wide tour in January and February this year, Raj announced his new political outfit last week and has been careful enough not to play the 'Hindutva' card, saying, his party would encompass people of all castes and creeds like dalits, Muslims and Hindus.

Raj, the fiery young leader, has mellowed and toned down his opposition to many things like the celebration of St Valentine's Day in Mumbai. To which he, as a BVS leader, was strongly opposed to it.

Shivaji Park, situated in central Mumbai, is considered a citadel of the Shiv Sena. When the Shiv Sena-BJP government came to power in 1995, Manohar Joshi took the oath of office as chief minister at this venue.

The sprawling ground has always witnessed massive public meetings by different political parties. But, it was Shiv Sena which took pride in stating that its chief was the biggest crowd puller at this venue.

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