I don't disown Saamna editorial -- Thackeray
Express News Service

MUMBAI, MAR 25: Although Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray did not disown the controversial editorial of March 19 in Sena mouthpiece Saamna edited by him, he said that its timing, particularly the demand for the dismissal of senior officials of PMO, was wrong.

The editorial had urged Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to immediately sack Principal Secretary Brajesh Mishra, Officer on Special Duty N K Singh and keep away his foster son-in-law Ranjan Bhattacharya from the PMO.

``Whether the editorial is written by me or otherwise, I will never disown the contents in Saamna. There is nothing wrong in the views expressed in the editorial. It was my view that the Prime Minister should take adequate care, but the timing of the editorial, particularly the names of the high-ranking officials was incorrect,'' Thackeray said.

Thackeray said following the Tehelka constroversy, all the three Sena ministers, Manohar Joshi, Suresh Prabhu and Balasaheb Vikhe Patil called on the Prime Minister to convey to him his views on the top officials attached to the PMO. ``Then it was a limited issue, but we will never endorse such a step that will land the Vajpayee government in trouble. We can't afford the fall of the Vajpayee government,'' he said.

Thackeray reiterated that he will never disown any of the editorials in the Sena mouthpiece whether authored by him or otherwise. ``On occasions, following the editorials in the Saamna, cases were filed against me. But I never disowned them, on the contrary, I have accepted the moral responsibility as an Editor of the newspaper,'' he said.

Launching a frontal attack on a section of the members of the Fourth Estate, Thackeray said, on occasions, he had observed that there was a wrong interpretation of his statements or interviews in the Saamna for obvious political reasons.

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