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January 31, 2007

Mumbai: Terming the delay in executing the death sentence of Parliament attack convict Mohd Afzal as "an insult to the law of the land", Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray said there was no need for President A P J Abdul Kalam to refer Afzal's mercy plea to Union Home Ministry.

"There was no need to pass over the file of Guru's clemency petition to the Home ministry", Thackeray told an election rally in neighbouring Thane. "Is he (Kalam) unable to go through the contents? Why do we need a President who hands over files to the Home Ministry?" he said.

Thackeray praised Kalam and claimed he did "not allow Sonia Gandhi to stake claim to the Prime Minister's post after the Congress managed to secure majority in 2004 Lok Sabha polls. "Saying she (Sonia Gandhi) is a foreign national, he (Kalam) even dared her to go to the court then", the Sena supremo claimed and added "and now look, how he is behaving (in the matter of Afzal),"

Questioning the delay in hanging of Afzal, he said sarcastically "is there a shortage of rope in the country?"

Deploring the law and order situation in Maharashtra, Thackeray cited a recent statement by NCP MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule who had said she feared going out on morning walks due to the presence of an alleged serial killer in Mumbai.

Thackeray said, "She (Sule) is the daughter of a minister and is herself a MP. But such is the state of affairs that even the police don't have any security," he said in a reference to the lynching of two police constables in nearby Bhiwandi in July last year.

"The idea of building a police station at the controversial site in Bhiwandi - which led to tension resulting in the death of the policemen - was not ours and the government has not been able to implement it due to the fear of going against the policy of minority appeasement", he added.

Addressing the rally just a day before campaigning closes for the elections to Thane Municipal Corporation (TMC) which saffron alliance has ruled for 14 years, Thackeray advised the Muslim community not to pay any heed to Samajwadi Party MP Abu Azmi, a known detractor of the Sena.

Thackeray questioned the motives of Dalit activists who he claimed did not agitate against the lynching of the policemen but were up in arms at the Khairlanji Dalit killing incident.

The octogenarian also opined that "independents must be banned from contesting polls and rules like having a two-thirds majority applicable to rebel legislators who wish to break away from the party must also be imposed."

http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=80474&headline=AFZAL~DEATH~|
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