Wielding sticks and hurling stones, hordes of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers on Tuesday vandalised a toll plaza at the iconic Bandra-Worli Sea Link, even as the state's police chief said their leader Raj Thackeray's "provocative" speech that triggered the violence was being examined.
Alarmed by damage made by Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) in last Lok Sabha polls, the BJP has chalked out a campaign strategy which would focus on making people realise that voting MNS is akin to voting for Congress-NCP.
Maintaining that anything is possible in politics, senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde on Sunday called for a tri-partite alliance of Shiv Sena, BJP and Raj Thackeray led-Maharashtra Navnirman Sena to pull down the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party combine.
At least half a dozen toll plazas were vandalised on Monday by suspected Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists in Thane after party chief Raj Thackeray asked workers not to pay toll tariff and "crush" the toll gates.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena state unit general secretary Vasant Gite was detained in Nashik on Wednesday, as a preventive measure, ahead of the possible arrest of party chief Raj Thackeray. Three MNS leaders have also been taken into preventive custody, Police Commissioner S M Sayyad told PTI. With this, the total number of arrests has gone up to 126 since Tuesday, he said.
In a surprising turn of events, Hyderabad-based MIM on Sunday made its maiden entry into the Maharashtra Assembly pocketing two seats, while pro-Marathi MNS of Raj Thackeray was all but wiped out winning just one.
The army has been upset over being dragged into politics.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, on Wednesday, sought to revoke the four year suspension of four of its legislators, saying it had already apologised for any "disrespect" caused to a woman MLA during Monday's mayhem in the Maharastra assembly but made no mention of the assault on Samajwadi Party member Abu Asim Azmi.
MNS members assaulted SM MLA Abu Azmi over taking the oath in Hindi.
While people voted in a fifth round that will set the tone as this election rounds into the straight, and while Modi on the stump chews the cud of personal grievances and hackneyed promises that have long since passed their use-by date, there is a rogue wave rising -- what damage it will do, we will know 16 days from today, observes Prem Panicker.
"If it is a defeat, it has to be accepted by everybody," Shiv Sena leader and former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi said when asked if the party conceded defeat in the elections.
A poster mocking actor Amitabh Bachchan on being part of the No-Honking Drive initiative of the Mumbai Traffic Police was put up in Mumbai on Wednesday. The poster -- Marathi -- bears the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena logo, Juhu residents said.
Bollywood item girl Rakhi Sawant has joined the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's cine wing -- Chitrapat Karmachari Sena.
Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party for hobnobbing with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in Maharashtra saying the people of Bihar will reject the party's collusive politics of communalism and regional chauvinism.
Two days after the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray announced a state-wide 'rasta roko' on Wednesday to protest against toll collection in the state, police on Tuesday served a notice to him asking the leader to refrain from any activity that would create law and order problems.
After a PIL in the Supreme Court demanding de-recognition of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena for its anti-North Indians campaign, a similar PIL was filed in the Bombay High Court on Friday seeking a ban on MNS and also to conduct a CBI probe into the entire incident.
Two months after targetting north Indian migrants, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena has raked up son-of-the soil issue demanding 80 per cent job reservation for Marathi-speaking locals in private sector and threatened to launch agitation if this was not done, drawing strong protest from the industries. The MNS also warned the industries that if this was not done then they would launch an agitation.
Tension brewed in parts of Mumbai and adjoining Thane districts on Wednesday following Tuesday's incident of stone pelting on Raj Thackeray's convoy by alleged Nationalist Congress Party workers in Ahmednagar district, with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supporters attacking NCP office in Ambernath and calling a bandh.
Shiv Sena activists on Friday attacked a college in suburban Mumbai as the authorities did not allow around 70 students to appear for the exams after declaring them as ineligible, the police said.
The MNS shot off a letter to the BSE authorities demanding a website in regional Marathi language to benefit the local investors.
Lok Sabha polls in Maharashtra will be held in five phases on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20. Counting of votes will be held on June 4.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday launched a veiled attack on the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, led by his estranged nephew Raj Thackeray, following publication of a photo showing an MNS leader with a functionary of Raza Academy.
The PML-N, however, rejected the demand and claimed that it was winning Thursday's elections.
Sulochana Latkar, known for her unforgettable mother roles in Hindi and Marathi cinema, was cremated with State honours at the Shivaji Park crematorium in north central Mumbai on June 5.
IMPPA officials had a closed door meeting with Shalini Thackeray, working president of Maharashtra Navnirman Chitrapat Karmachari Sena, to discuss the issue of release of "Ae Dil Hai Mushkil" that hits cinema houses on October 28.
A hoarding an MNS leader posted in Mahim, north-central Mumbai, to mark the first anniversary of the 26/11 terror attacks, omits National Security Guard commandos Major Sandeep Unnikrishnan and Havaldar Gajendra Singh Bisht who lost their lives battling terrorists at the Taj Mahal hotel and Nariman House respectively.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena General Secretary Satish Pradhan resigned from the post on Saturday giving a blow to the Raj Thakre-led party just before the assembly election.
Senior Nationalist Congress Party leader and former Maharashtra Home Minister R R Patil has stoked a controversy by trivialising rape when he said an MNS candidate for the Assembly poll jailed for the offence could have waited for elections to get over before committing the crime.
The NHRC on Thursday rapped the Maharashtra government for "failing to take timely action" to protect two migrants who were killed during an agitation by MNS against north-Indians in 2008 and directed it to pay a compensation of Rs 5 lakh each to the families.
TThe MNS gameplan is to create a rift in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra, then replace the Sena in the alliance for the assembly election.
Large number of Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers clashed on Thursday outside the Old Custom House in South Mumbai when respective party candidates Arvind Sawant and Aditya Shirodkar reached there to file their nominations.
Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has said that he does not give importance to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, started by cousin Raj Thackeray, and neither do the people.
Sharma had kicked up a controversy last week by alleging that he had been asked to pay a bribe of Rs 5 lakh by an official of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation which, in turn, claimed that the actor had flouted norms not only in his Versova office building but also at his apartment in suburban Goregaon.
Raj Thackeray's decision to support Modi as PM did not appeal voters. Sanjay Jog reports from Mumbai.
While the police denied any such incident, mediamen deployed outside Bachchan's bungalow, anticipating trouble in the wake of clashes between the MNS and Samajwadi Party supporters on Sunday, said they heard verbal abuses being hurled by the duo and also saw a bottle being thrown by them. Security was stepped up at Bachchan's residence 'Prateeksha' in Juhu, following MNS chief Raj Thackeray's attack on the superstar for "preferring Uttar Pradesh over Maharashtra".
'Praful Patel, Dilip Walse-Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal are not the ones who will go with Ajit Pawar'
MNS, which launched its campaign against north Indian migrants last month, had issued advertisements in local newspapers asking unemployed Marathi youth to enroll with the party, which would provide them jobs in industrial units in Nashik.
Suspected Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists on Monday attacked the office of diversified conglomerate Indiabulls in Camp area of the city, second such incident since party chief Raj Thackeray yesterday accused the company of 'usurping' water meant for farmers for its power plant in the parched district.
"Our party president Raj Thackeray only meant to say that some people from outside states were trying to provoke the locals and we must be vigilant and alert against such elements. We are not against north Indians at all," party spokesperson Shirish Parkar said on Monday.
Asking followers to create a language barrier to prevent influx of 'outsiders', Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray slammed Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi, industrialist Mukesh Ambani and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh spokesperson Ram Madhav for making 'irrelevant' statements.
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