Chavan's U-turn like Jackson's moon-walk, says Thackeray

Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, on Friday, lambasted Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan for backtracking on his statement on making knowledge of Marathi mandatory for renewing taxi permits in Mumbai and likened the political turnaround to Michael Jackson's "moonwalk".

"Within hours of making the statement, you withdrew it and have done a turnaround in style of moonwalk by Michael Jackson. Marathi manoos actually expected this U-turn from Congress rulers who do such backtracking as a matter of habit," Thackeray said in a signed open letter to Chavan in party mouthpiece Saamana.

The Sena chief said, "We are not against any language. But I would like to tell you that if you fail to respect Marathi in Maharashtra, you would face the wild fire of public rage in protest against your government". "I ask you to stop this politics of U-turn letting down the Marathi people", he added.