By IANS,
Mumbai : Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday lashed out at Railway Miniser Lalu Prasad who has sought a ban on his party and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).
Adressing reporters here, Thackeray advised Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) president Lalu Prasad “not to pour oil into the fire” or “meddle in state politics while sitting in New Delhi”.
Lalu Prasad demanded a ban on the Sena and MNS after Mumbai Police shot dead an unemployed Bihari youth, Rahul Raj, in a city bus after he fired indiscriminately, injuring a commuter.
Leaders from Bihar, cutting across party lines, came together and criticised the manner in which the youth was killed in a police shootout.
Thackeray said Bihari leaders like Lalu Prasad, central minister Ram Vilas Paswan and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar should ponder why Biharis are forced to leave their state and seek jobs elsewhere.
“The real culprits in Bihar are the state’s leaders because of whom people from that state are forced to hunt for jobs outside,” he asserted.
He said that for the past 18 years, leaders from Bihar have handled the railway ministry. “Yet people from that state are compelled to go out of Bihar for jobs,” he pointed out.
He was referring to Rahul Raj who came to Mumbai from Patna, looking for employment opportunities.
He also hit out at the Democratic Front government of Maharashtra on its alleged failure on various counts, including law and order.
Thackeray said it was a matter of serious concern that a youth could roam with a revolver in a public place.
Continuing in the same vein, he said that Maharashtra is today “No. 1” in communal violence. He said the people are not fools and their verdict would be known in the next general elections.
Asked about the forthcoming Chhath Puja celebrations, a popular festival of Bihar, Thackeray preferred to sidetrack the contentious issue.
“I would not like to comment on it. There are other big people tackling it,” he said, in an oblique reference to his estranged cousin and MNS chief Raj Thackeray’s ongoing campaign against people from outside Maharashtra and Chhath Puja.