NCP opposes MNS demand to name freeway after Bal Thackeray

MUMBAI: NCP has taken a strong objection to the demand made by MNS to name the recently-inaugurated Eastern Freeway in Mumbai after Shiv Sena supremo late Bal Thackeray.

In a statement, NCP spokesman Nawab Malik said he has already written to Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan that majority of the local people were dislocated due to the project belonged to the backward classes and Dalit community.

"To respect their sentiments, the party had requested the government to name the freeway after Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. However, MNS is trying to create hurdles in this process, just like it did in case of the transfer of Indu mill land for Ambedkar memorial," Malik said.

Malik reiterated his demand for naming the freeway after Ambedkar.

MNS has written a letter to Chavan to name the freeway after Thackeray, who passed away in November last year.