India, Jan. 5 -- The Mumbai Congress on Sunday released a manifesto called 'Mission Save BEST', centred around reviving the once-lauded public transport system. The party has accused the BJP-led state government of conspiring to shut down BEST in order to benefit private players, who have been given long-route bus services to operate at the cost of BEST-administered routes.

The nine-point manifesto speaks about ending the privatisation spree, restarting 3,337 buses as promised in the 2019 agreement with workers' unions, increasing the fleet size of BEST to 6,000, restarting long-distance and cross-city routes and halting the sale of bus depot land to real estate players. The manifesto was released by Mumbai Congress chief Varsha Gaikwad ...