Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's response has been sought by the Lok Sabha secretariat in the wake of a breach of privilege notice against him following an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana targeting some MPs from Bihar.

The response of Thackeray as also Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha member, who is the executive editor of the newspaper, has been sought.

They have been asked to respond in the wake of RJD MP Devendra Prasad Yadav raising the matter during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha last week.

Later, Yadav gave a notice of breach of privilege against Thackeray, accusing him of "lowering the dignity of MPs as also Parliament".

Prabhunath Singh and Rajiv Ranjan 'Lallan' of JD(U) also took up the issue in the House and several MPs, including Vijay Krishna and Ram Kirpal Yadav of RJD, Iliyas Azmi of BSP, Surendra Goel of Congress, had supported the move.

In the editorial, Thackeray said, "They (Biharis) are not wanted in Southern India, Assam and also Punjab and Chandigarh. The Biharis have antagonised local population

wherever they had settled. The UP-Bihari MPs have shown their ingratitude towards Mumbai and Maharashtra with an anti-Marathi tirade in Parliament."

After the response is received, Speaker Somnath Chatterjee would go into it and would take appropriate action.

Meanwhile, the Congress downplayed the development with party spokesperson Manish Tiwari saying the matter was only a part of the processes and procedures of Parliament whenever a breach of privilege issue arises.