Mumbai: A worried Congress High Command on Thursday forced Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan to do a U-turn on the issue of taxi permits.
Chavan clarified that not just Marathi but fluency in Hindi and Gujarati is also fine when it comes to granting new taxi permits.
Sources have told CNN-IBN that the Congress forced Chavan to change Marathi-only taxi permit rule and the party was worried about the impact of the move on the Bihar Assembly elections later in 2010.
Chavan had said on Wednesday that taxi permits would be given to only those who speak and read Marathi and have stayed in the state for the last 15 years.
Now politics over taxis has taken a new twist with the Maharashtra Chief Minister making a U-turn.
Chavan's statement that Hindi and Gujarati speakers will also be given permits for 4,500 new taxis has angered Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.
Following Wednesday's announcement the Congress-NCP government was accused of trying to take over the MNS's Marathi Manoos card.
But the U-turn has put the cabbies straight in the headlights.
With Raj Thackeray keeping up his aggressive stand on the Marathi Manoos agenda and the government's latest diktat, taxi drivers in Mumbai are caught between the devil and the deep sea.
It's also the timing of the decision with an eye on the upcoming civic polls that is questionable.
Raj Thackeray, never one to lose sight of the road ahead, has overtaken Chavan's move.
"The permits that would be given to 4000 taxis should be given to only Marathi speaking people, otherwise we won't allow those taxis to come on the road. Whether they take it as a threat or whatever," said Raj Thackeray.
Given the MNS's record so far that will be taken as more than a threat. It will be seen as clear and present danger.
(With inputs from Shoaib Ahmed, Pracchi Jatannia and Nimisha Srivastav)
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