MUMBAI — Taking strong exception to the remarks made by Rashtriya Janata Dal President Lalu Prasad Yadav on Thursday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) spokesman Shishir Shinde said MNS would respond to Yadav’s challenge more strongly than he could imagine.
Yadav, who is also the federal railways minister, told reporters in Ranchi he would perform the next Chhat rituals in front of MNS President Raj Thackeray’s house in Mumbai. “I am not afraid of anyone. I will show the might of the people from Bihar and UP by performing the Chhat rituals in front of Raj’s house and if he has the courage to face secular forces, he should try,” Yadav said.
Speaking to journalists in Mumbai yesterday, Shinde objected to Yadav’s remarks and said that Chhat rituals are still far away.
Meanwhile, the Shiv Sena has blamed Raj for the death of a Marathi. As the state limped back to normality after 12 days of violence, Sena sought to stir up trouble by blaming Raj for the death of engineer Ambadas Dharrao.
In a report “Marathi victim due to MNS in Nashik” the Sena mouthpiece “Saamna” yesterday criticized the MNS for being responsible for the Marathi man’s death. Dharrao died after he was hit on the head by a stone. The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited bus he was traveling in was pelted with stones by MNS workers on Wednesday.
The report said that after rumors of Raj Thackeray’s arrest, several MNS workers became unruly and started pelting buses and people with stones.
Raj Thackeray may have succeeded in projecting the MNS as a party of the “Marathi people,” but he has a long way to go to taste power, political observers said.
It has become evident that Raj had managed to create a good cadre base in Nashik in the Khandesh region where the presence of his party agitators was considerable, but this has not been the case in Mumbai and Pune.
