By IANS,
New Delhi : Accusing the central government of “trying to cover up” matters over the attacks on north Indians in Mumbai by the Maharashtra Navnriman Sena (MNS)activists, the Janata Dal-United (JD-U) said Thursday that its five Lok Sabha members would resign Friday over the issue.
The JD-U parliamentary leader Prabhunath Singh told reporters that the MPs would give their resignation letters to the Lok Sabha speaker Friday morning.
“For the last two years there have been constant attacks on north Indians in Maharashtra. Even the Lok Sabha Speaker said that necessary steps should be taken to stop these attacks. The MNS is protected by the Congress-led state government, and the union government is trying to cover up things,” said Singh.
The JD-U leader alleged that people were playing “vote bank politics” and that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has become “inactive” and was working under the pressure of union Minister Sharad Pawar, leader of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
“Raj Thackeray (MNS chief) is being protected by the Congress and its ally, NCP. These people don’t want to antagonise the Marathi voter. People from Bihar are attacked in the presence of police. Raj has been spitting venom after every attack. He has become above the law just because of vote bank politics,” Singh said.
Mumbai has seen a number of incidents against non-Maharashtrians, particularly those from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, blamed on the MNS.
The JD-U had earlier announced that its Lok Sabha MPs would resign from parliament after the Chhath puja on Nov 5.