MNS attacks Indiabulls Centre after Raj speech in Amravati

A group of MNS workers went on a rampage outside the Indiabulls Centre in central Mumbai, following a fiery speech by party chief Raj Thackeray in Amravati, alleging that water for drought relief was being diverted to a thermal power plant run by the corporate house.

Thackeray had slammed the amount of water being pumped to an Indiabulls thermal power plant while the rest of Maharashtra was suffering from severe drought.

According to a CNN-IBN report, the Maharashtra state government had allegedly diverted over 80 million cubic metres of water from the upper Wardha region, meant for irrigation, to the 1350 MW thermal power project of Indiabulls Power Ltd at Amravati in Vidarbha.

“There will be severe consequences if projects like that of Indiabulls Pvt Ltd, which require diversion of water, aren’t stopped immediately,” Thackeray said in his speech.

The attack on Indiabulls office came hours after the speech. Around 15 alleged MNS activists pelted stones at the building.

CNN-IBN reported that two MNS workers were arrested in connection with the attack on the corporate office in central Mumbai.

In his speech, Thackeray had also slammed the Congress led government, saying that the ruling elite deserved to be stripped and beaten up on the street.

According to Indian Express, he had specifically picked Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan as the target for most of his barbs.

“This man was chosen by Sonia Gandhi. And he gives interviews expressing helplessness about everything and citing coalition compulsions. Nothing makes a difference to the thick-skinned,” he had said.

Thackeray also said that he was the state’s only option to save it, a comment that assumes more significance given his decision to shoot down suggestions that his party should join the grand alliance of Sena-BJP-RPI to take on the ruling Congress-NCP in Maharashtra.

Thackeray left the Shiv Sena in 2005 over leadership issues and formed his own party the next year. He has also spurned hints by cousin Uddhav Thackeray, chief of the Shiv Sena, that the two parties could merge.