NCP leader predicts Owaisi's entry into loudspeaker row after Raj Thackeray's remarks

Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Jayant Patil said that the controversy over the loudspeaker is a deliberate attempt to create communal tension in Maharashtra. Echoing Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut's remarks on Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, Patil predicted the entry of All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) Asaduddin Owaisi into the ongoing row.

“Deliberate attempt to create communal tension in the state. In the coming days, you will see entry of Owaisi in the picture, after Raj Thackeray. It's an attempt to start communal rift and untoward incidents in the state,” ANI quoted Jayant Patil as saying.

On Saturday, Thackeray's party put up a poster outside the office of Saamna, Shiv Sena's mouthpiece, asking Raut to "shut down his loudspeaker" in response to Sena leader's reported remark terming Raj Thackeray the "Owaisi of Maharashtra".

"Whom did you call Owaisi? Sanjay Raut shut down your loudspeaker, whole Maharashtra facing problem due to it or else we will shut down your loudspeaker in MNS style," read the poster outside the office.

Thackeray had earlier called on the state government to remove loudspeakers from mosques, warning that otherwise his party would install loudspeakers outside mosques and play Hanuman Chalisa. Speaking at a public rally in Thane, Thackeray reiterated the demand that loudspeakers on mosques be removed before May 3.

Earlier on Wednesday, NCP chief Sharad Pawar alleged that Raj Thackeray is doing the BJP's bidding, a day after the MNS president batted for issues frequently raised by the saffron party - the Uniform Civil Code and population control. When asked about Raj Thackeray's ultimatum to the state government to remove loudspeakers from mosques, Pawar said, "the government will think over it seriously".