Union Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee took on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) as he said the Congress and its mandate are bound to stand against any kind of parochial politics. Addressing a press meet in the city at the Congress Bhavan,the finance minister said Maharashtra was known for its cosmopolitan approach and did not believe in separatist tendencies. He hinted that the party had no intention of taking any MNS support. Even as just a day ago,State Irrigation Minister and senior NCP leader Ajit Pawar had indicated at taking support of Raj Thackeray-led MNS,Mukherjees line of thinking was clearly to the contrary. The mandate will vote for a party without such tendencies, he said. He also came down heavily on the Opposition over the allegations of the party replicating their manifesto,where he said the party has been there for the last 45 years and it was they who made their agenda and others followed it. With the state having evolved as a favourite destination for investors and also seeing a substantive growth rate in the last 10 years indicative of the DF government report card,Mukherjee said the joint manifesto of the coalition clearly talked of progress and the party surely deserves a third term.
