Mumbai: Tension triggered by an incident of stone-pelting at Raj Thackeray’s convoy led to violence by his MNS party activists who yesterday torched public and private vehicles, including ambulances, and attacked NCP offices across Maharashtra.
Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) activists allegedly threw stones at vehicles of Raj Thackeray’s convoy early on Tuesday at Ahmednagar and waved black flags at the MNS chief when his car passed.
In retaliation, activists of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) targeted NCP offices in south Mumbai and suburbs, as well as Ahmednagar, Nanded, Akola, Yavatmal, Parbhani, Thane and damaged private and public vehicles.
“It (the attack) was pre-planned. The police remained mute spectators. But for the presence of the police, it could have been even worse,” Raj Thackeray told reporters last evening in Ahmednagar after he emerged from a meeting with his party office-bearers. In an unexpected move, cousin and Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray rushed to Raj’s support, terming the attack on the latter’s convoy as “unwarranted”, and challenged the NCP to step out of the Democratic Front government. NCP leader and state Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar said the MNS has always played “emotional politics.”
IANS
