Mumbai: Madan Sharma, the retired Navy officer who alleged he was beaten up by Shiv Sena workers in Mumbai, on Sunday hit out at Uddhav Thackeray stating that the Maharashtra Chief Minister should "resign" if he is unable to run the government.
"I request Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray ji that if you cannot run the government, then you should resign. Let people elect a government that can maintain law and order in Maharashtra," he said while speaking to media.
Earlier in the morning, Union Minister Ramdas Athawale met retired Navy officer Madan Sharma and said forwarding a cartoon is not wrong. "Shiv Sena formed the government in Maharashtra with the help of the Indian National Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
"Raut went to Sonia Gandhi and Sharad Pawar with folded hands to request for their support as they didn't want to see a BJP Chief Minister in the state. The cartoon was forwarded to honour Shiv Sena and Uddhav Thackerey," Athawale said.
Reacting to the incident, the Bharatiya Janata Party and the opposition leader in Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis had expressed shock and appealed to the Chief Minister to take action against the accused.
Sharma said the cartoon of Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, which forwarded on WhatsApp was made by artist Uday Maheshwari.
"In the cartoon a man was showing respect to Sonia Gandhi by calling her mother (Matru Shree) and Sharad Pawar his father (Pitru Shree). I liked it. It was made by the artist Uday Maheshwari. If somebody has a problem with the cartoon, they should complain about it to the artist and not me," said Sharma. He added that artist should be praised for his creativity.
Shiv Sena leader Kamlesh Kadam and five others were arrested by the Mumbai police after an FIR was registered in connection with alleged assault of retired Navy officer in Mumbai. They were later released on bail. (Inputs from ANI)
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