Thursday, February 14, 2008 (Mumbai)

The Shiv Sena has now accused the Congress and the NCP of using Raj Thackeray to weaken the Sena. ''The Congress and the NCP has used Raj Thackeray against the Shiv Sena. The Shiv Sena was growing in popularity because of its stand in the Urban Land Ceiling Act, the power shortage and farmers suicides in Maharashtra,'' said the Shiv Sena said in a statement.''These issues had increased its popularity and the congress government wanted to counter that,'' it added. But perhaps the biggest irony of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's recent hate campaign was that four MNS workers are now charged with the murder of a Maharashtrian, a man belonging to the very community they claim to protect.Ambadas Dharrao, an employee of Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd in Nashik was hit by a stone as he was returning from work. He was a victim of the blind rage unleashed by Raj Thackeray's politics of hate.The four Navnirman Sena workers, accused of murder, have gone missing. A silent protest was held in the victim's village in Niphad and people in the area shut shop as a mark of silent mourning.''How would Raj Thackeray feel if this happened in his family? How will the victim's family cope now?'' Amar Dharrao, victim's relative.Meanwhile, MNS chief Raj Thackeray issued an apology to the victim's family.''I apologise to the family of the man who died in Nashik violence. I apologise with folded hands even though I'm not responsible for the death,'' he said.Raj Thackeray claimed that unscrupulous elements, and not MNS, were responsible for the ensuing violence in Mumbai.