Raj Thackeray wants MNS to 'clean up' Mumbai

After politicians got into the Mumbai clean up drive in the backdrop of rising Malaria cases, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray also asked his party men to take up the responsibility of cleaning the metropolis.

Raj directed his partymen to clean the city with the help of civic officials and local people. "Wherever you find garbage, clean it to control the diseases," he said.

He made it clear that this was not a publicity stunt. "Many (political leaders) have published their photographs cleaning Mumbai but it was a publicity stunt," he added.

He also warned his party men against helping the proliferation of slums. " The slums where the migrants live are unhygienic," he charged.

Raj also pointed that private land is free from slums but land belonging to the state government, centre and BMC is encroached upon. "Corporators and government officials are responsible for this and you should control it," he told his party activists.

He also alleged that the statistics and figures of Malaria patients given by the Brihan Mumbai Municipal Corporation are false. "According to my information, 56 persons have died in KEM hospital in Mumbai alone due to Malaria," he claimed. Recently, Shiv Sena leaders and Congress MP from Mumbai North Sanjay Nirupam took to the streets to clean up the city in the wake of growing Malaria cases.