Shiv Sena UBT candidate from Thane, Rajan Vichare, speaks to Nayonika Bose about his vision for Thane and how he plans to square up against electoral rivals who were earlier his fellow party associates.
I feel that the voters are right where they are. The cadres are also with us. Only the leaders have switched. A politician can’t take a voter with him nor can they change their opinion. The loyal Shiv Sainiks are still in Shiv Sena, they are still with us. In fact, because of what has happened, the Sena has become stronger… because there has been a churning, the garbage and dirt have gone out of the Sena.
How does it feel to stand against Eknath Shinde with whom you had a bond?
The fight that I am fighting right now, it is of “Gaadars vs Nishtavaad (traitors versus loyalists)”. And certainly, the truth and loyal Sainiks will win in this fight. Whatever they (Eknath Shinde and his faction of Sena) have done is out of their own selfish purposes. They went to hide their sins and the money they earned through corrupt practices. Eknath Shinde, himself, met Uddhav saheb and then he left Shiv Sena, saying that he cannot go to jail at this point. He left after saying that he would have to go (to BJP).
Thane is a huge constituency comprising different areas like Navi Mumbai, Mira Bhayandar, Thane. Each of these areas has a separate set of needs and development demands. What is your vision for your next term?
Every city under the Thane constituency has a different issue. For example, in Navi Mumbai, the stations had been built by CIDCO 30 years ago. The stations are located below. Therefore, senior citizens have to climb down the stairs as there are no lifts. We have building lifts and elevators at every station. The tender has been floated and the work will also begin soon.
Mainly, we will improve waterways connectivity and my presentation has been given to the department. This work is also in the pipeline. This will be like in Bhayandar, where through the jetty one can reach Vasai in 15 minutes. Earlier, the same distance would take hours. That project is already completed.
We are also working on remodeling and making a new Thane station, under the Station Area Traffic Improvement Scheme (SATIS) 2 project. Even SATIS 1 was done when I was the mayor. The SATIS was our pilot project, which is being implemented across all stations in the country. We are also making a station between Thane and Mulund, for which, too, we have already received the sanctions. We are also planning to make two new segments in Mira Bhayandar, like Borivali.
