Mumbai: The slanging match between MNS and MG Vaidya, sparked by the latter's view on splitting Maharashtra into four states, continued unabated with the Raj Thackeray-led party on Sunday questioning the RSS veteran's "silence" on Central government's act of "bulldozing" powers of state governments.
Amid the debate over creation of Vidarbha, the RSS ideologue recently said Maharashtra could be divided into four states, inviting sharp rebuke from Thackeray at his party's 'Gudhi Padwa' rally on Friday.
"Instead of commenting on creating more states, why is Vaidya not commenting on the central government bulldozing the powers of state governments and interfering in their internal matters," MNS spokesperson Anil Shidore said in a statement.
In his rally, Raj had made certain comments on age of Vaidya, who is 93.
In his reply yesterday, Vaidya reportedly stated, "God willing he would complete 100 years notwithstanding anyone from the likes of MNS charging at him brandishing a revolver." Referring to this, Shidore said, "There is no need to fire a revolver at Vaidya and his age is such that he should be consuming medicinal tablets."
Referring to Vadiya's argument there should be smaller states with a population between 50 lakh and three crore, the MNS spokesperson said states are created taking into account the language, culture, and aspirations of people. "On that basis the states are created and not on the basis of maths.
There are other mechanisms to ensure smooth functioning of the administration like regional development boards, decentralisation of powers to local self-governing bodies and strengthening of civic bodies," he said.
Taking a swipe at Vaidya, Shidore said, "By creating states with 50 lakh population, does he, instead of creating the Union of India, wants to create the Union of Municipalities?"
He said Maharashtra was created out of one common thread of culture and strong pride. "M G Vaidya should not try to break that thread and hurt the pride of the Marathi manoos," he added.
