Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Thursday said it was party founder late Bal Thackeray who gave Maharashtra its first Brahmin chief minister in the form of Manohar Joshi. Addressing a political rally organised in Hadapsar area of the city, Raut said it was the late party supremo who put an end to the practice of namaz being offered on roads in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

Raut was referring to the statement made by Union minister Raosaheb Danve during a rally organised by the Brahmin community in Jalna on Tuesday night, wherein he said he wishes to see a Brahmin community member as the chief minister of Maharashtra. "I read a statement of (BJP leader) Raosaheb Danve that he wants to see a Brahmin chief minister in Maharashtra. Why are you dividing the state into castes and classes? The state belongs to the bahujan samaj (masses)...the state belongs to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, to Shahu-Phule-Ambedkar and to Balasaheb Thackeray who united the Marathi manoos," Raut said.