The Congress plan to woo the Marathi manoos with ‘kande pohe’ has finally been cleared by the Shiv Sena-dominated civic improvements committee but with a rider that domicile residents be given 90 per cent of the stalls.

The proposal was cleared by the committee only after the Congress accepted Sena’s condition that 90 per cent of the stalls should go to the locals.

The plan to set up stalls of kande pohe (a Maharashtrian snack made of puffed rice) was Congress’ way of countering the Sena’s Shiv Vada that was launched on January 23.

Congress corporator and Opposition leader in the civic body Rajhans Singh came up with the idea. There will be 125 stalls reserved for kande pohe hawkers.

The stalls will be on roads after the new hawkers’ policy, that the state government had formed on the lines of the national hawkers’ policy, is implemented.

The new policy aims to regulate over five lakh hawkers in the city, who often end up encroaching on the footpaths and roads. “Most of the outsiders come to Mumbai in search of jobs so there should be some provision for them,” said Vinod Shekhar, Congress corporator.