Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president Raj Thackeray has literally found himself in a 'legal soup', as he started his day on Thursday by attending various police stations in Mumbai. Thackeray was released on bail on Wednesday by a Kalyan court in a rioting case and reached home at around 1800 hours after spending 38 hours with the police, including a night in Dombivli's Manpada police lock-up.
The ongoing tussle between Amitabh Bachchan and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena supremo Raj Thackeray has taken another turn, as the Bollywood superstar has broken his silence once again. In an interview to the tabloid Mumbai Mirror, Bachchan said, 'I am not leaving this city and going anywhere. Let them throw bottles and stones. Let them burn my effigies and bring morchas in front of my house -- but I won't budge.'
Ahead of BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation polls, BJP is reminding Shiv Sena it is not the sole claimant of intellectual property rights for Marathi Manoos and Hindutva.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said the decision to withdraw from the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance government will be taken after discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi when he returns from his US trip.
A senior BEST official expressed hope of the stalemate getting resolved soon.
The Shiv Sena on Thursday offered to provide "Marathi workers" to industrial units in and around Nashik following the exodus of many labourers in the wake of the anti-north Indian campaign led by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena earlier this month.
The industries in Nashik, which bore the brunt of violence after MNS chief Raj Thackeray's arrest in Mumbai, have suffered losses to the tune of Rs 400 crore. The incidents of stone-pelting, arson and exodus of North Indian workers from the region have hit the local industries hard, Prashant Sathe, general secretary of Nashik Industries Manufacturers' Association (NIMA) said.
The police on Friday arrested two more Maharashtra Navnirman Sena students' wing activists in connection with the death of an Hindustan Aeronautical Limited employee due to the violence sparked off after the arrest of party chief Raj Thackeray.
No fresh incidents of violence were reported on Thursday and the police have so far arrested 56 persons for rioting and arson amid an exodus of 7,000 North Indians from Nasik.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh has rejected the demand for booking MNS leader Raj Thackeray, whose party has targeted North Indians in the state, under the National Security Act saying he did not agree with this.
Thackeray took the accused to Patil at his Malabar Hill residence because he believes that all of them were innocent and had therefore surrendered, MNS sources said.
"Due to the kind of family environment I have come from, I believe in giving leadership and not in contesting polls. So, it is very much clear that I will not fight any election. But, MNS will definitely contest coming Lok Sabha elections," Raj, who is touring Vidarbha, said at a press conference in Amravati on Monday.
After MNS Chief Raj Thackeray's attack on Jaya Bachchan over her alleged anti-Marathi remarks, Shiv Sena has now targeted Bollywood 'badshah' Shah Rukh Khan for his Delhi origin. "Shah Rukh says he is a Dilliwala. If you are from Delhi, then why have you come to Maharashtra," Sena Chief Bal Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana on Tuesday.
Four people were arrested for allegedly damaging five taxis, owned by North Indians, in the early hours of Saturday in Mumbai, police said. Efforts were on to ascertain whether the arrested belonged to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), which had run an anti-north Indian campaign last month, they said.
'He deliberately encouraged my rivals to diminish my influence in the party.'
Terming north-Indians as the life-line of Mumbai, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said that anti-people forces like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Shiv Sena were trying to divide the nation."Maharashtra has 57 per cent of north Indians who are toiling for the progress of the state and nation. MNS and Bal Thackeray would face a severe repercussion of their drive, to separate people, on the basis of region or language," said Paswan.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray was arrested in Mumbai on Wednesday afternoon.
Amid a raging controversy surrounding North Indians in Mumbai, Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan has suggested that he was jittery to even say he is from Delhi and wanted to do something for his "home town".
"We have arrested a total of 92 persons till now, including 73 from the MNS and 19 from the SP for indulging in violence, which started on Sunday afternoon," Joint Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) K L Prasad told PTI.
A Bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and D K Jain said that Raj Thackeray can approach the concerned high court for appropriate remedy following which his counsel preferred to withdraw the petition.
Maharashtra Navanirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Monday alleged that Shiv Sena activists had planned to attack him and accused then Sena leader Narayan Rane of masterminding the attack. Raj said he was tipped off about the Sena plans by a senior police officer of Sindhudurg district. He told the audience that he decided to quit the party and form his own outfit after he heard about the conspiracy against him.
"This is a free country and every individual enjoys the liberty of free speech. The law of the land and its Constitution are supreme. Every Indian should be governed by that," the actor said, responding to a query on the impact of the MNS chief's charges against him and his family.
Rabri Devi dared the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena from stopping her and her husband, Lalu Prasad, from holding the Chhat Puja in Mumbai. She also said that MNS chief Raj Thackeray had hurt Biharis with his anti-Chhat comments.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Friday claimed he had received a death threat while he was coming to attend a press conference in Mumbai.
In a riposte to former Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari's recent overtures to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, the Shiv Sena on Friday decided to field its candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi for the Lok Sabha elections.
Union Minister of State for IT and Communications Milind Deora will be taking on Shiv Sena, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and Aam Aadmi Party candidates as he tries to win the South Mumbai seat for the third time in the forthcoming Lok Sabha elections.
The four accused allegedly bashed up local hawkers and vandalised their stalls in Jogeshwari east.
The ashes of Bharatiya Janata Party leader and former union minister Gopinath Munde were on Sunday immersed in the Godavari river.
Congress sitting MP Sanjay Nirupam is facing a tough contest from Bharatiya Janata Party Gopal Shetty in the North Mumbai Lok Sabha constituency, which goes to polls on April 24.
Suryavanshi had been allegedly beaten up by some MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly premises, after he stopped and fined Bahujan Vikas Aghadi MLA Kshitij Thakur for speeding his vehicle on the Bandra-Worli sea link in March this year.
Holding the status of the richest municipal corporation in the country, BMC will witness competitive elections with 2,275 candidates in the fray for 227 seats. Here are some famous faces flashing their fingers!
Claiming that 70 per cent of new autorickshaw permits were given to non Marathis, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has threatened that his party workers will set on fire these autos if they are seen plying on roads.
As the state gets ready for a four-cornered electoral test on Wednesday, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray has emerged as the most popular politician online, according to a study.
Mohan Rawale, a five-time former MP from Mumbai south central, was expelled from the Shiv Sena on Monday, days after his meeting with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray, in an apparent clamp down on dissidence.
Alert: Post-Graduate Diploma in Fashion Technology from the Army Institute of Fashion and Design.
Anurag Kashyap continues his rant against the government: We are damned if we do, damned if we don't!
In a damage control exercise, the Bharatiya Janata Party's prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi on Tuesday night spoke to Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray amid fissures in the saffron alliance over BJP's overtures to the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
Expressing anguish over no breakthrough in rationalist Narendra Dabholkar murder case even after a month, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Thursday alleged the killing could be "state-sponsored" one.
'I am trying to make the political system more answerable to the people.'
In an indication of its vexation with ally BJP, the Shiv Sena on Friday said it will contest 20 seats in electorally vital Uttar Pradesh, but the BJP downplayed it saying they share "strong and old" ties and are "inseparable".