’If Pawar is tagya, then Raj is radya’

Retorts Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal in response to MNS Chief Raj Thackeray's scornful comments on Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar

'If Pawar is tagya, then Raj is radya'

Retorts Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal in response to MNS Chief Raj Thackeray's scornful comments on Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar

The slings and arrows before the crucial municipal elections slated for February 2012 have begun.
Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chief Raj Thackeray started and Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal retorted.

Face off: MNS Chief Raj Thackeray

On is maiden visit to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) headquarters, Thackeray indirectly took a dig at Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar branding him as a tagya or rowdy gangster.u00a0

u00a0Mayor Mohansingh Rajpal

Reacting bristly to Thackeray's caustic comments on the Deputy Chief Minister, Mayor Rajpal said, "If Dada (Pawar) is tagya, then Raj is a radya, who only understands violence. If Ajit Pawar is a leader of a criminal gang, then Raj is known for creating ruckus and terror." Raj took a blatant dig at the Deputy Chief Minister and said, "The PMC can't do without a tagya, referring to Pawar Junior."

In a recent rural Panchayat election, Pawar had described himself as a tagya saying that such a person can tackle any kind of difficult situation. Thackeray demanded then why the PMC which had a majority and a tagya leader -- without naming Pawar -- could not make progress.

Former Mayor Ankush Kakade and NCP spokesperson said that Thackeray's comments were befitting the so-called 'cultured' family he belonged to and people were aware of his style of speech. "Though we ignored Raj's comments, Punekars will not. The result will be automatically seen in the municipal elections in February 2012," he said.

Neelesh Nikam, leader of the PMC House, said that the city is the cultural capital of the state and the people do not accept such "uncultured" comments. "Punekars will not react to such 'funny comments' but indicate their resistance soon," she said.

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