After all, the employees did not flock to the Shiv Sena-run union but to Raj Thackeray despite the fact that many of the sacked employees were not Marathis. These non-Maharashtrians, going by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, were those who came and usurped the local's share in Mumbai's and Maharashtra's economy.
In the backdrop of fresh tension triggered by his insistence on Marathi signboards for shops, the Mumbai police on Thursday barred Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray from addressing public meetings till September 30.The police sent a notice to Raj, asking him to abstain from making speeches till the end of this month.The notice was sent following a warning by Raj and his party members to all shopowners in the city asking them to put up signboards in Marathi.
It is collective positive action that will enable the warring cousins to carry forward the Thackeray mantle in 2010 and beyond. Fighting over a limited votebank could see their downfall just like what befell Shivaji Maharaj's successors till the Peshwas came on the scene decades later.
Angry mobs organised rallies against Thackeray, burnt his effigies and demanded action against the MNS supremo . Thackeray's statement, comparing the popular Chhath festival to a natak, evoked wide spread protests. Political leaders, cutting across party lines, slammed the comment made by Raj Thackeray. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Rashtriya Janata Dal chief Lalu Prasad Yadav and Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan criticised Thackeray's statement.
Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has equated nephew Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena with a carbon copy of the outfit he founded in 1966.
An alleged attack on a Marathi-speaking family by a government employee in Thane district sparked outrage in the Maharashtra Assembly, where the BJP-led government assured justice and condemned the incident. Opposition parties demanded immediate action against the accused, Akhilesh Shukla, and his wife, who have been arrested. The incident has raised concerns about discrimination against Marathi people and fueled tensions in the state.
Dialogue between Udhav and Raj can end imbroglio: Joshi
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists went on the rampage burning shops and hurling stones in and around neighbouring Dombivali after their arrested leader Raj Thackeray was brought to the police station in connection with the case relating to assault on north Indians.
Thackeray also condemned the collapse of a girder of an overbridge which was being constructed on a section of the Mumbai-Goa highway in Chiplun city on Monday.
A delegation of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leaders met Maharashtra Governor S C Jamir on Monday, requesting him to restore 'Z' category security of MNS chief Raj Thackeray.
The statue is located at the busy roundabout between Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Vastu Sangrahalaya and National Gallery of Modern Art in south Mumbai.
Schemes like the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana strain fiscal resources amid rising unemployment and prices of food items.
Congress leader Salman Khurshid, who is a part of India's diplomatic mission abroad, on Monday said it is 'distressing' that people back home are calculating political allegiances and asked if it is 'so difficult to be patriotic'.
The end of the process to withdraw nominations for Maharashtra assembly polls on Monday left the Congress in despair in Kolhapur North seat after its candidate Madhurima Raje Chhatrapati withdrew, while the Bharatiya Janata Party managed to convince Gopal Shetty to opt out from Mumbai's Borivali.
Dozens of people took to the streets to celebrate the news of Thackeray's likely arrest. "We are playing with colours to celebrate the likely police action against Raj Thackeray, who made a mockery of the Chhath festival and made remarks against Biharis," said student leader Manoranjan Singh, while playing with dry colours at the busy Dak Bungalow square in Patna.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Wednesday alleged the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party of collusion with Raj Thackeray and sought to remind the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena president that Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan had made immense contribution to Maharashtra.
With the Centre pressing the Maharashtra government to take immediate steps against those indulging in violence, the Mumbai police appealed to Raj to restrain the cadre of his party -- Maharashtra Navnirman Sena -- from further fuelling the campaign against north Indians.
The war of words between Chief Minister Ashok Chavan and Raj Thackeray in poll-bound Maharashtra has intensified with the former saying the MNS chief should act in a movie by Karan Johar and the latter calling the Congress leader "brainless".
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray, who underwent a successful angioplasty at Lilavati hospital in Mumbai on Friday, was discharged on Monday.
The ashes of late Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray were on Friday immersed in the Arabian Sea by his son and party executive president Uddhav Thackeray.
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.
After the Christian wedding in Goa, Aadar Jain and Alekha Advani got married in a Hindu ceremony in Mumbai on Friday.
It will be interesting to see if Thackeray now succeeds in reviving the fortunes of his weakened party.
Arrests are mandatory in cases registered against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi, a top police official said on Monday.
Taking cognizance of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's attack on Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi for taking his oath in Hindi, a local court has issued notices against party chief Raj Thackeray and four suspended party Members of Legislative Assembly.Chief Judicial Magistrate R R Badodiya issued notices on Wednesday against Raj Thackeray and four other MLAs -- Shishir Shinde, Ramesh Wanjale, Vasant Gite and Ram Kadam -- and asked them to appear before the court.
Samajwadi Party leader Abu Asim Azmi on Wednesday offered Rs two crore to Maharashtra Navnirman Chief chief Raj Thackeray if he substantiates his allegation about Bangladeshi voters in the Assembly constituency from where he won the poll.
As far as calling names goes, campaigning for the October 13 Maharashtra Assembly elections seems to have reached a new low, with key players in state political arena calling rivals names, including those of animals.
Zenda, an upcoming Marathi movie based on the feud between Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin Raj Thackeray has been termed as biased by Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activists for portraying their leader in "bad light".
Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, the son of Bal Thackeray, and his family members did not attend the event.
A teenage boy was detained by police in neighbouring Thane district for questioning on Wednesday in connection with an allegedly vulgar post on Facebook against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray.
In an interview to Marathi daily Loksatta, referring to the decision of the Congress-led Democratic Front government to withdraw the security following his arrest in a case relating to attack on north Indian job aspirants, Raj Thackeray said, "The government's action was a foolish decision."
Before Maharashtra assembly commence its first session of Legislature, a political debate has started between the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and its rival Samajwadi Party with the SP MLA Abu Asim Azmi demanding the House agenda in Hindi.
The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Union ministries of Law and Judiciary and information and broadcasting to file its reply on a contempt petition against MNS chief Raj Thackeray.
Reacting to the meeting of former Bharatiya Janata Party chief Nitin Gadkari with Maharashtra Navnirman Sena leader Raj Thackeray in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said if a senior leader from BJP supports Raj or Sharad Pawar, it can affect the alliance.
'Raj saheb and I are trying to fill the backlog of the last ten years.'
Downplaying the meeting between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray and its Maharashtra unit leaders, the Bahartiya Janata Party on Tuesday said there were no political discussions with him and hoped that Shiv Sena will participate in Wednesday's NDA rally against corruption.
Thumbing his nose at Mumbai police, a defiant Raj Thackeray on Tuesday led thousands of MNS supporters in a march before holding a public meeting where he pitched for immediate ouster of the state home minister and city police chief for the August 11 violence at Azad Maidan.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray on Sunday sought Centre's intervention in unearthing the truth behind the explosives-laden car found near industrialist Mukesh Ambani's residence in Mumbai last month.
Hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced in Assam. But it is Raj Thackeray's fire and brimstone speeches that make it to the front pages of the newspapers, says Sherna Gandhy.
'Uddhav has told the cops to crack down hard on the MNS agitation if MNS activists try to vitiate the communal harmony in the state.'
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