Mumbai –. Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav
Thackeray Saturday criticised his estranged cousin
Raj Thackeray, saying his campaign against north
Indians in Mumbai was 'spoiling the image' of
Maharashtra and its people.
Speaking on the issue for the first time after
clashes between Raj Thackeray's Maharashtra
Navnirman Sena (MNS) and north Indians, Uddhav
Thackeray said: 'Through such acts, they are not
only spoiling the image of Maharashtra but also of
the Marathi manoos (Marathi person).'
He,
however, did not name Raj Thackeray.
'People know who is duplicate and who is real. They
very well know that Shiv Sena has been fighting for
the rights of the Marathi manoos for the last 40
years,' he said at a function of the Shiv Sena
affiliated labour unions in northern Mumbai.
However, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's son refused
to speak to the media on the violence in Mumbai in
recent days. All he said was that the violence was
nothing but an attempt to divide the people of
Maharashtra.
Uddhav Thackeray's remarks came a day after the Sena
chief sharply reacted to Raj Thackeray's stance in
an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna.