Aaditya slams Karnataka Cong MLA for demand to make Mumbai a Union Territory

Mumbai, Shiv Sena leader Aaditya Thackeray on Thursday said his party will not tolerate any attempt to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra, and asked ally Congress to reprimand its Karnataka MLA for demanding to declare the country’s financial capital a Union Territory. Calling Mumbai his “motherland”, Thackeray said “Marathi manoos” spilled his blood to get it. He was apparently referring to Karnataka Congress MLA Laxman Savadi’s reported statement that if leaders in Maharashtra are demanding to make Belagavi a Union Territory, then Mumbai should also be made a UT. Maharashtra and its neighbouring state Karnataka have been locked a dispute for decades over the control of Belagavi, a border town in Karnataka formerly known as Belgaum. It has a significant Marathi-speaking population. In a post of X, Thackeray, the MLA from Worli in Mumbai said, “The demand to make Mumbai a Union Territory is condemnable. Be it the Congress or the BJP, the Shiv Sena will never tolerate any attempt to break Mumbai away from Maharashtra. Mumbai is our motherland. Marathi manoos achieved it by spilling his blood. Mumbai was not given to us by anyone.” “The Congress leadership should reprimand its MLAs,” he said. The Shiv Sena is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi in Maharashtra, which also has the Congress and the NCP as its constituents. These three parties are part of the opposition INDIA bloc at the national level with several other parties. Shiv Sena minister Pratap Sarnaik said Mumbai was built by the “Marathi manoos” and does not belong to any “Tom Dick and Harry”. “Our party’s stand has been that Belgaum, Karwar and Nipani belong to Maharashtra. Many of our Shiv Saniks have been jailed. Even Shinde was jailed for this. 106 people have died for Samyukta Maharashtra ,” Sarnaik said. Congress leader Vijay Wadettiwar distanced the party from the remarks of his fellow party MLA. “We have nothing to do with what the MLA of that state has said. There is no question of Mumbai becoming a UT. The question has been of Belgaum. The Centre should pay attention to this . It should summon the chief ministers of the state ,” Wadettiwar said.