Dawood in ''talks'' with Centre for his return, claims Raj Thackeray

Shiv Kumar

Tribune News Service

Mumbai, September 21

Dawood Ibrahim, the prime accused in the 1993 Mumbai serial bomb blasts case, is ill and is negotiating with the Central Government for a surrender, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray said here on Thursday.

“Dawood is presently doing a ‘setting’ with the government so that he can return to India,” Thackeray said at an event to launch his Facebook page.

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The MNS chief said the BJP too is keen on bringing Dawood to India closer to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections so that it could exploit the situation politically.

“Dawood is keen to return so that he can die in his motherland … The BJP, however, wants to take credit for this in order to win the next elections,” Thackeray added.

The MNS chief also utilised the occasion to hit out at the Narendra Modi government.

“Three-and-half years have passed and we are still waiting… fake praises are meaningless... This country has only heard speeches for 70 years,” Thackeray said.

He also hit out the Central Government’s demonetisation exercise. “If 99 per cent money came back, where is it? The ones who owned black money people are still safe,” Thackeray said.

Hitting out at the Bullet Train project between Mumbai and Ahmedabad, Thackeray said it was in continuation of the Gujarati lobby’s old dream to make the country’s financial capital a part of Gujarat.

“Don’t we understand your tactics? The bullet train is in pursuit of joining Mumbai with Gujarat. To keep the Gujaratis of Mumbai happy you are taking a loan of Rs 1.08 lakh crore,” Thackeray said.

Soon, the price of land near the railway will increase and the Marathi manoos will not be able to afford it, he added.