Cong: Patil should act against MNS

While Congress president Sonia Gandhi was concerned about the developments in Maharashtra in the wake of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena MNS leader Raj Thackeray8217;s attempt to whip up anti-North Indian sentiments in the state by playing up Jaya Bachchan8217;s controversial comments recently, the Congress on Wednesday sought to lay the blame on the NCP for the state government8217;s failure to rein in the MNS.

Margaret Alva, the AICC general secretary in charge of the state, on Wednesday briefed the Congress president about the developments. Alva later spoke to CM Vilasrao Deshmukh to apprise him of the concern expressed by the top party leadership about the developments in the state. Some action should be taken to ensure the lives and properties of non-Maharashtrians, she told the CM. 8220;The Congress president is concerned about it,8221; said Alva.

8220;The Home Minister R R Patil is from the NCP. He should act. I cannot give direction to him,8221; said the AICC general secretary. 8220;There are unfortunate developments in Mumbai with language and state being made an issue by certain political parties to divide Mumbai with their eyes on the coming election. Mumbai has always been home to people from all over the country and anyone who tries to destroy this ethos is trying to destroy Mumbai,8221; said Alva.

8220;You can write both Hindi and Marathi on the same typewriter. It8217;s the same Devanagri script. The issue of language is unnecessarily being exaggerated for political reasons,8221; said Mumbai Congress chief Kripashankar Singh.