Uttar Pradesh Congress welcomes Thackeray's arrest

Lucknow, Oct 21 (IANS) The Uttar Pradesh unit of the Congress party has welcomed the arrest of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for the attacks on north Indians by his party cadre in Maharashtra, but termed it a 'late move'.

'He (Thackeray) wanted to create disturbance just before the elections to gain political mileage as he has no concrete base in Maharashtra,' state Congress president Rita Bahuguna Joshi told IANS. 'Besides targetting natives of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar residing in Maharashtra, unruly MNS activists are also attacking the residents of other states,' she said.

'We praise Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh for arresting him, though it was a late move.'

Thackeray, whose MNS workers Sunday attacked non-Maharashtrians appearing for a railway board recruitment examination, was arrested from Ratnagiri, about 250 km from Mumbai early Tuesday.

'Barring Thackeray and his MNS followers, none of the residents of Maharashtra are against non-Maharashtrians and want a cordial atmosphere in the state,' Joshi said.