Nobody can take away Mumbai from Maharashtra: Aaditya Thackeray

NAGPUR: Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Aaditya Thackeray on Wednesday asserted that Mumbai is part of Maharashtra and nobody can take it away from the state. He was talking to reporters in the Vidhan Bhavan premises here in response to a query over Karnataka Law minister J C Madhuswamy's statement that Mumbai qualifies to be a Union Territory. The winter session of the Maharashtra legislature is currently underway in Nagpur. ''I feel that we should not give importance to such ministers. Mumbai is part of Maharashtra and no one can take it away from Maharashtra,'' Thackeray said.

Thackeray, a former state minister, also said that it is necessary that peace should be established between Maharashtra and Karnataka and law and order should be maintained.

''Maharashtra has been maintaining patience,'' he added. The Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader also sought to know why Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai was taking such an aggressive stand on the border issue. ''Assembly elections are nearing in Karnataka and they (ruling Bharatiya Janata Party) are staring at a defeat. But is it right to create a rift between two states on these lines?'' he asked.

Amid the raging border dispute, both Houses of the Maharashtra legislature on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution to ''legally pursue'' the inclusion of 865 Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka into the western state.

Talking about the political scenario in Maharashtra, the Yuva Sena chief said not only allegations, but proofs (of irregularities) are also coming out against every new minister in the state. ''If this illegal government had courage, it would have removed these ministers,'' he said. The opposition parties in the state have been demanding the resignation of Agriculture Minister Abdul Sattar over the allotment of land reserved for public ‘gairan’ (grazing) in Washim, and accused Industries Minister Uday Samant of irregularities in some mega projects.