Thackeray unfazed by Uddhav-Raj clash

MUMBAI: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Sunday termed as 'unfortunate' the clash between his party workers and that of the breakaway Maharashtra Navnirman Sena here recently, but maintained he was unfazed by the event.

In his weekly column in the Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna', Executive Editor and MP Sanjay Raut quoted Thackeray as saying, "I am unfazed by the event as always, and am observing the happenings .... but the event is very unfortunate".

"I have faced various troubles to bring Sena to the position it is today. Sena's value does not depreciate if some person who is hiding pelts two stones at us," Thackeray said.

Workers of Sena and MNS, led by Thackeray's nephew Raj, had clashed in the former's stronghold Dadar on October 10 over alleged removal of the Sena patriarch's posters, forcing the police to resort to lathi charge and lob tear gas shells.

Raj broke away from the Sena last year and formed MNS early this year following differences with cousin and Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray.

The Sena-MNS clash was seen as a battle of supremacy between the two parties ahead of the next year's elections to the prestigous Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), currently ruled by the Sena-BJP combine.