The party's Mumbai unit chief has demanded that Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh immediately convene an all-party meeting to stop the Raj Thackeray-led campaign
LUCKNOW: With the Congress facing allegations of "promoting MNS" and failing to protect north Indians in Maharashtra, the party's Mumbai unit chief has demanded that Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh immediately convene an all-party meeting to stop the Raj Thackeray-led campaign and find an "amicable" solution to the problem.
"I have demanded that the Chief Minister call an all-party meeting to discuss the issue so that attacks on north Indians could be stopped immediately and an amicable solution could be found," Congress Mumbai unit chief Kripa Shankar Singh, who hails from Jaunpur district of Uttar Pradesh, said here.
Rejecting allegation that Congress was "promoting" MNS to counter Shiv Sena, Singh said that he had not only written a letter to the Chief Minister to discuss the "burning problem" but also met Deshmukh.
"I have emphasised to the Chief Minister that all political parties including MNS should be convinced to stop playing petty politics over the issue and law and order should be maintained at any cost so that common man, irrespective of the state they belong, should not suffer", Singh said.
On the issue of giving priority to Maharashtrians in jobs in the state as demanded by MNS chief Raj Thackeray, Singh said that MNS chief should convince MPs from the state to discuss the issue with the Centre "instead of provoking party workers to attack north-Indian students".
Terming the entire issue as a fallout of the Thackeray family feud, Singh said that Raj, who talked about uniting Maharashtrians, should first unite his own family.
"I have talked to Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray and am also ready to talk to Raj to put an end to the issue in which north Indians are worst sufferers," Singh, who was on a visit to Ayodhya with his family, said.
Singh claimed that everyone was secure in Maharashtra and there was no "insecurity" among North Indians. The Congress leader said he would himself meet members of the community to instill confidence in them.
About the 'Chhath puja' scheduled for November 4, Singh expressed confidence that it would pass off peacefully as the Maharashtra government had made elaborate arrangements in this regard.
Asked about a Samajwadi party MLA reportedly announcing a bounty on Raj's head, Singh said that this was not a solution of the problem.
"Instead of killing someone, we believing in changing his ideology", Singh said condemning the statement of the SP MLA and terming it as a political propaganda.
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