Raj Thackeray to unveil his election manifesto for polls

MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navanirman Sena's ( MNS) election manifesto that Raj Thackeray is set to unveil on Thursday focuses on improving urban services and employment opportunities without adding any additional taxes, party sources said.

Raj has maintained total secrecy about the contents of his ‘blueprint'. But sources said it promises to change the agenda of governance and focuses on providing energy, water, education and good roads without adding the burden of its cost on the state exchequer or levying additional taxes or road toll.

"We will hold a big public meeting at Shanmukhanand hall on Thursday in the evening where Raj Thackeray would be disclosing the blueprint of development," said Shishir Shinde, MNS' MLA from Mumbai's Bhandup constituency. "It will provide answers to many questions the state has been facing, such as unemployment, power blackouts and bad roads." He didn't provide details on the contents. The MNS fought its first assembly election in 2009 in Maharashtra and won 13 seats.

However, after that, it has been on the decline. The party's poor performances got highlighted during the 2014 LS polls when none of the eight candidates fielded by Raj could retain their security deposit. Now Raj hopes for a comeback by telling his voters that he has this blueprint for the state, which is facing an industrial slowdown and has had the largest number of farmer suicides.