“The demand for the bifurcation of the MMC is not acceptable to the state government. The demand put forth by one of the Congress legislators from Mumbai Bhai Jagtap and the views expressed on it were his personal. The state government does not concur with them,” Chavan said.

The chief minister was referring to the demand for the bifurcation of MMC made by Jagtap during a meeting of legislators from Mumbai called by him two days ago, which stirred a controversy. The working president of the Shiv Sena Uddhav Thackeray and senior Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal had opposed the demand on Thursday. The Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna in a front-page editorial on Friday severely criticized the demand.

In another development, the president of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray continued with his tirade against north Indians and said that MNS workers would come on roads to control the traffic.

In a veiled attack on the north Indian cab and auto rickshaw drivers, Raj said: “Anyone comes to Mumbai and obtains a taxi and auto rickshaw permit. Such drivers don’t know the roads in Mumbai and the local language. So on what basis are these drivers given driving licenses and permits,” Raj questioned.

The MNS chief also met with the state Transport Commissioner Dilip Jadhav on Friday and discussed issues relating to Mumbai traffic, allotment of taxi and auto rickshaw permits to north Indians.

Meanwhile, Chavan got a jolt on Friday when the Congress High Command appointed his bete-noire senior Congress leader and state Revenue Minister Narayan Rane as a member of the Congress-NCP Coordination Committee that was formed to resolve differences between the two allies.