Uddhav should try to put 'stay' on rising crimes in Maharashtra: BJP leader

Mumbai: The BJP on Tuesday hit out at Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray over his "stay orders" on various projects, and said he should also try to put a 'stay' on the rise in incidents of crime in the state.

Since coming to power, Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, ordered review of several big ticket infrastructure projects, including the multi-billion dollar Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train project, and stayed work on the Metro Line III carshed in the Aarey Colony, a green lung in Mumbai.

"He has been issuing stay orders one after the other, so a similar step should also be taken for incidents of crime," BJP leader Ashish Shelar said in a statement.

"The chief minister should try to put a 'stay' on the increasing crime incidents in the state," the former minister said, while criticising the Thackeray-led Sena-NCP-Congress government over no portfolio allocation to his ministers even after over 10 days of coming to power in the state.

Shelar said there have been some gruesome incidents of crime in the state, including sexual assault and killing of a five-year-girl in Nagpur, kidnappings in Thane and recovery of a chopped body near Kalyan railway station.

A 32-year-old man was on Sunday arrested for allegedly raping and killing a five-year-old tribal girl by smashing her head with a stone in Nagpur. Besides, the dismembered body of a woman was found in a suitcase on Sunday at Kalyan in Thane district.

"The sexual assault and killing of a disabled girl in Jalgaon makes people wonder whether the state is paying little attention to internal security," Shelar said.

BJP's Rajya Sabha member Narayan Rane on Sunday termed the Thackeray-led government as a "temporary" one only issuing "stay orders". Rane said the Congress-NCP-Sena government would not last long as these parties came together only to protect their personal interests.

The BJP and Shiv Sena fought the October state Assembly polls together, winning 161 seats jointly in the 288 -member House.

However, a stalemate on sharing the chief minister's post led to the breakup of the alliance, following which the Sena joining hands with the Congress and NCP to form the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi government.