By IANS
New Delhi : The Lok Sabha has sought Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray’s explanation on some objectionable comments he made in an article about MPs belonging to Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
Sources said the Lok Sabha Secretariat has sent a letter to Thackeray, asking him to explain his remarks against MPs in his editorial in the party mouthpiece ‘Saamna’. However, the sources clarified that the Lok Sabha Privileges Committee has not yet taken up the matter.
The speaker is likely to take a decision on whether the matter should be sent to the Privileges Committee after receiving Thackeray’s response.
When Raj Thackeray’s Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) led a tirade against the north Indians in the state, the Shiv Sena patriarch in a signed article targeted MPs from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, saying: “The UP-Bihari MPs have shown their ingratitude towards Mumbai and Maharashtra with an anti-Marathi tirade in parliament.”
He also called the people of Bihar an “unwanted lot” in every part of the country.
The comments had their echo in the Lok Sabha when Devendra Yadav of Rashtriya Janata Dal demanded action against Thackeray.
Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee, who said that the Shiv Sena chief’s references amounted to contempt of the house, promised that he would follow the procedure for any action to be taken.