Agencies
Mumbai, Feb 7:
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray is set to experience fresh trouble with pressure mounting on Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh to arrest him for giving instigating speech at a rally in Mumbai.
State govt sources have confirmed that his speech contains instigating references and may be probed.
Meanwhile, the Maharashtra government has sought the opinion of the state's Advocate General on the issue of arrest of MNS Chief Raj Thackeray for his remarks against north Indians, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh said on Thursday.
"For an arrest warrant, we are seeking the legal opinion of the Advocate General. The police will take action according to his advice," he told reporters. According to highly placed sources, Advocate General of Maharashtra has already studied the charges. And initial legal advice suggests that Section 153A of the IPC is 'feasible'.
Deshmukh said it was the government's job to provide all residents of Mumbai protection whether they came from the North or from the South. "As long as they are here, they are Mumbaikars," he said.
Maharashtra CM Vilasrao Deshmukh has reportedly briefed Home Minister Shivraj Patil about the whole incident and Raj Thackeray can be arrested once Deshmukh returns to Maharashtra
Taximen call off strike
The Mumbai Taximen's Union called off a flash strike late on Thursday afternoon after a senior state minister assured legal action against activists of a local political party who ransacked the union's office.
"We called off the strike after the deputy chief minister assured us action would be taken against those who ransacked our office, and he requested us hold the peace and not precipitate the matter in the city," a union official told.
Earlier in the day, 30-40 activists of the Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) ransacked the union office in south central Mumbai, in which some property was damaged, another official of the union, which controls 55,000 cabs in the city, said.
A majority of Mumbai's cab drivers are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, the target of ire of MNS activists, who say migrants are stealing jobs from
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