Letter war: BJP says Maharashtra CM Thackeray should respect Governor's post

Amid a letter war between Maharashtra Governor B S Koshyari and Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over the issue of crimes against women, state BJP president Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday said the CM should respect the governor's post.

Days after Koshyari wrote a letter to Thackeray for convening a special session of the state Assembly against the backdrop of the Sakinaka rape and murder, the CM on Monday hit back, saying the governor should request the Centre to call a session of Parliament to discuss issues concerning the safety of women and growing attacks on them.

In his letter to the governor, Thackeray gave figures of crimes against women in BJP-ruled states, including Uttarakhand, the home state of Koshyari. Thackeray stated that such "instructions" by the governor could stoke a new controversy" and are damaging to the democratic parliamentary procedures.


On Wednesday, state BJP chief Patil said, "CM Thackeray should respect the constitutional post of governor. If he is pointing fingers at other states, the decision to call for a special session would be theirs only. He should focus on improving the situation here."

Patil was talking to reporters after BJP's Sanjay Upadhyay filed his nomination for the next month's Rajya Sabha bypoll, necessitated due to the death of the sitting MP Rajiv Satav.

A 34-year-old woman was allegedly raped inside a stationary tempo parked on the roadside in the Sakinaka area of Mumbai earlier this month. The accused, a 45-year-old man, brutalised the victim by inserting a rod in her private parts. The woman died during treatment at a hospital.