Prove charge, take Rs 2 crore cheque, Azmi tells MNS chief

MUMBAI: (TNN) Samajwadi Party state president and MLA Abu Azmi on Wednesday announced a Rs 2-crore award if Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray proved that his voters in Govandi-Shivaji Nagar included Bangladeshis. Thackeray had alleged that Azmi won the assembly elections with Bangladeshi votes at Azad Maidan on Tuesday.
Azmi told journalists on Wednesday that he challenged him to prove the presence of at least one lakh Bangladeshis in Mumbai. "If he fails, he should give up politics," Azmi said.
Azmi, who Thackeray had made one of the targets during his speech, wondered how a Bangladeshi passport reached him. "He should have submitted the passport to the police," he said. Thackeray had flung a Bangladeshi passport in the air while saying that Bangladeshis and foreigners were behind the August 11 violence outside Azad Maidan.
On why he had not announced an award for anyone who gave information about vandals who destroyed the 1857 martyrs" memorial outside Azad Maidan, Azmi said he condemned vandalism but no one could dictate to him whom he should give awards.
One of the richest legislators in the state, Azmi had given Rs 1.5 lakh to the family of Altaf Shaikh, one of two people killed in police firing during the August 11 protest rally. "We don"t know if he was part of the mob. His family is very poor and I have supported them on humanitarian grounds," Azmi said.