Mumbai, Sep 18: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray today openly came out in support of the UPA government's decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail saying that it would give a boost to farmers' earnings and prove jobs to thousands of youths in the state.
Thackeray pointed out that it was during NDA prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee's regime that the move to allow FDI in retail was first mooted. "They (BJP) are now opposing only for the sake of opposition", he remarked.
MNS chief challenged states like UP, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Tamil Nadu, whose governments have decided not to allow FDI in multi-brand retail, not to send youths from their states to Maharashtra to work in foreign-owned multi-brand retail stores, if they were so much opposed to FDI per se.
Addressing a press conference, Raj Thackeray said, if multinationals set up multi-brand retail stores in Maharashtra, they should give preference to Marathi youths in jobs instead of giving jobs to outsiders.
Thackeray said, small-time Indian retailers are, in fact, looting the country and depriving farmers of their rightful earnings.
The MNS chief opposed the Sept 20 Bharat Bandh call given by opposition parties saying that these parties did not take into account the 9-day-long Ganeshotsav in Maharashtra. "Will they allow bandh during their Navratras?", he asked.
