Sena,MNS team up against Azmi

THE Maharashtra Assembly on Wednesday saw the Shiv Sena and its rival the Raj Thackeray-led MNS team up to seek action against Samajwadi Party MLA Abu Azmi for his alleged adverse remarks against Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray. Later,pro-tem speaker Ganpatrao Deshmukh ordered an inquiry by the principal secretary of the state legislature into the incidents that had taken place inside the House and its precincts.

While Azmi stayed away from the Assembly,the Opposition forced three adjournments on the issue.

Reacting to an editorial on him in Sena mouthpiece Saamna over the assault by MNS legislators for taking oath in Hindi,Azmi who was speaking to reporters on the Legislature premises on Tuesday,had made a reference to the Sena supremos age which did not go down well with the party.

As the House met on Wednesday,Shiv Sena MLAs rushed to the well of the House shouting slogans against Azmi and displaying banners demanding his arrest and suspension. The MNS legislators later joined the sloganeering by the Sena-BJP members.

Later,Leader of Opposition Eknath Khadse of the BJP pointed to statements made in the Assembly by Azmi and said they were causing unrest across the state and alleged that some television visuals had shown Azmi pointing to his shoes before being attacked by MNS men. Khadse said Azmis son who was in the gallery had also hurled abuses at members after his father was assaulted and questioned why no action had been taken against Azmi and his son.

Shiv Sena group leader Subhash Desai charged that Azmi had misused the legislature premises by making such statements there and sought strict action. MNS group leader Bala Nandgaonkar said the Sena chief was respected by lakhs of people and pointed out that if the Sena MLAs had supported the MNS (on the day of the incident),Azmi would not have been emboldened to speak out against Thackeray.

When contacted,Azmi said,I dont want any violence…I want peace. They (Sena and MNS MLAs) may have stopped my car or tried to insult me,therefore,I preferred to stay away from the Assembly.

He said he had not made any derogatory reference to Bal Thackeray.