Raj Thackeray pleases Congress in 20 minutes in Mumbai

Mumbai, Aug 22: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (

) chief

stormed Mumbai on Tuesday, Aug 21 with his mass rally. Thackeray gave an impressive speech and critics believe that he managed to please Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan,

during his short but ever lasting speech of 20 minutes.

Thackeray demanded resignation from Maharashtra home minister RR Patil and Police Commissioner Arup Patnaik. MNS decided to hold the rally to show their protest over the recent ruckus in Azad Maidan on Aug 11 in which two people died and many more were injured.

Critics believe that Thackeray chose his words very tactfully while attacking Patil and National Congress Party (NCP), an alliance of Congress.

The MNS chief lashed out at NCP's Patil and the police commissioner but decided to spare the chief minister and the state government. He did not utter a single word about the recent bomb blast in Pune and the government's inaction over several burning issues in the state.

It was quite clear that with his speech, Thackeray tried to remain in the good terms with the CM and Congress who could easily direct the public outrage towards its coalition partner.

Despite Thackeray's stir against him, the state home minister refused to pay heed to his demand as Patil stated, Raj Thackeray's demand for my resignation was a political one, which I will not accept. The rally was also politically motivated ignoring the fact that his party men led by MLA Harshwardhan Jadhav beat up police personnel at Aurangabad last year."

Almost one lakh people gathered at Girgaum Chowpatty to join Thackeray. Their rally covered a distance of five kilometre from Girgaum Chowpatty to the Marine Drive flyover and proceeded towards Azad Maidan via the Metro Cinema junction.

OneIndia News