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Thackeray breaks silence to trash mayor-in-council system

Though Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had decided to stay away from making political statements at least temporarily, it would have been surprising had he not spoken on the mayor-in-council system for Bombay, given the fear that it might ultimately lead to the city's separation from Maharashtra.

"Mumbai (Bombay) belongs to Maharashtra and Marathi manus (folk). Even if 42 generations of my opponents come down to earth they will not succeed," said Thackeray categorically.

The Sena chief said at present he was performing the duty of a 'watch dog'. "I'm trying to avoid any political statements. But since it is a question of my Bombay-Maharashtra, I had to break my silence and warn all those having evil designs," Thackeray said in what has turned out to be a criticism of his party's own brainchild.

"People are playing ugly games to topple the alliance government in Maharashtra. Of course, Sharad Pawar has a bigger role to play in such nefarious designs. He made use of not only Maratha politics but also tried to create rifts between various castes and religions during the recent Lok Sabha elections. Now he has started to raise ghosts in the minds of the Marathi people over the mayor-in-council system. This is nothing but false propaganda -- that Bombay will separate from Maharashtra after the mayor-in-council system comes into force. I will hammer the mayor-in-council system to pieces if it means separating Bombay from Maharashtra," Thackeray fumed.

Compiled from the Marathi media by Prasanna D Zore

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