Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Friday criticised actress and Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha member Jaya Bachchan for 'supporting' the demand for independent status for Mumbai.
"You have been living in Maharashtra for several years and now you are saying this. We will not tolerate anyone speaking of separating Mumbai from Maharashtra," Thackeray, editor of the Sena mouthpiece Saamna, said in an editorial.
"Even Jaya's husband Amitabh Bachchan would have banged his head after hearing what she said in Parliament," Thackeray said.
"The recent developments make one wonder if there is a consipiracy to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra," the editorial said.
"Union Finance Minsiter P Chidambaram had also put forward a similar view three months ago and was given a befitting reply by Sena leader Raj Thackeray, who challenged Chidambaram to first separate Chennai from Tamil Nadu," it said.
Thackeray also criticised legal luminary and Rajya Sabha member Fali Nariman, who raised the issue of separate status for Mumbai in the Upper House recently. "Had the Shiv Sena members been present in Parliament that day, they would have given a befitting reply to Nariman," the editorial said.
There were 105 people who had dedicated their lives in the Samyukta Maharashtra movement to ensure that Mumbai remained a part of Maharashtra, it added.