Shobha Deshpande staged nearly a 20-hour protest in Mumbai after a city-based jeweller allegedly refused to speak in Marathi and asked her to leave his shop where she had gone to make a purchase.
Aaditya Thackeray had a brief meeting with Gandhi at her 10 Janpath residence in New Delhi.
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.
'The impression that Uddhav saheb is naram (soft or not-so-aggressive), anukool (congenial), manmilau (amiable) is true.' 'But he is Balasaheb's son. So, aggression comes naturally to him.'
The Congress which has set its eyes on wresting the Mumbai Municipal Corporation, Asia's largest civic body, from the Shiv Sena-BJP in the 2012, is alarmed by the possible Muslim support to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
The Maharashtra government told the Supreme Court on Monday, that it has taken effective steps for protection of lives and religious faith of north Indians and non-Marathis in the wake of an alleged hate campaign launched by the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena.
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.
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.
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.
The police began serving notices to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena office bearers in Mumbai on Monday, warning them against committing cognisable offences, after Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray called for a statewide road blockade agitation against toll collection.
Terming socialite Shobhaa De's tweet -- suggesting separate statehood for Mumbai -- as "frivolous", Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Thursday said the state will remain united.
'If the Thackeray cousins love the media, the media too adores the two bespectacled Thackeray scions, who in their bid to espouse their Marathi manoos agenda, have become an easy bait for a medium that depends for its survival on high TRPs and ad revenues.'
However, incumbent Chief Minster Ashok Chavan said the Congress-NCP alliance will be looking at the Republican Party of India for possible outside support if it fell short of the majority mark.
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.
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".
In a video posted on Twitter, Dutt said Aaditya Thackeray is like "a younger brother to me".
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".
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's cartoon ridiculing Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Bharatiya Janata Party President Amit Shah over their party's humiliating rout in the Delhi Assembly polls has invited sharp rebuke from the saffron party.
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.
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.
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."
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.
"People of Maharashtra are large-hearted and they have accepted everyone. But some people want to spoil that image," Deshmukh said in an apparent reference to Raj Thackeray-led MNS, which has launched an agitation against north Indian migrants to Mumbai and the state.
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.
Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh on Monday said he would approach the Election Commission seeking derecognition of Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in the wake of its party chief's remarks and subsequent violence in Mumbai targetting North Indians.
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.
It was a meeting to show solidarity with the laid-off Jet Airways staffers, but MNS chief Raj Thackeray's men turned it into a coaching class for Marathi.
'When Uddhav Thackeray went in for surgery, he had presumed that Eknath Shinde would have looked after the Shiv Sena for him during this period.' 'He did not imagine that Shinde would use this period to backstab him.'
Why did NaMo skip the celebrations?
The octogenarian leader said he agreed with Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar that these tactics to gain free publicity should be ignored. Without naming Raj, Thackeray said 'chicken in state politics are suffering from bird flu of depression', and hence they have no value.
If you love India, you cannot weaponise religion to stay in power, asserts Ramesh Menon, author, Modi Demystified: The Making Of A Prime Minister.
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.
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.
Five workers of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena were arrested on Thursday for allegedly assaulting a north-Indian fruit seller in suburban Ghatkopar after a video of the incident went viral on social media.
'I have a desire to go to Mumbai, but it is not possible and not in my hands.' 'My friends and parents tell me not to think about this, but I have put in lot of effort in this film.'
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.
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.
A Maharashtra Navnirman Sena activist was murdered in Pune on Thursday, the police said.
"We condemn in unequivocal terms the attack on the Biharis. Under the constitution of India, they have a right to settle down anywhere in the country and earn their livelihood," BJP spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad said.
'Maharashtra governor did not do anything that was contrary to the Supreme Court's decision.'
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