MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Udhav Thackeray on Monday joined his cousin Raj Thackeray's demand for reservation for Maharashtrians during railway recruitment in the state even as Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists were detained over Sunday's attacks on north Indians appearing for an exam to join the railways.
In a statement in the Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna, party executive president Udhav Thackeray said that by recruiting people belonging to the states where vacancies arise, the railways could ensure that injustice is not done to unemployed youth in different states.
Meanwhile, MNS activists were detained by the police in Aurangabad, Nashik, Navi Mumbai and Mumbai. Police officials said they will be interrogated over the attack on north Indian candidates at the railway recruitment exam.
On Sunday, activists of Raj Thackeray's MNS, which is demanding more representation for Maharashtrian youth in railway staff vacancies, attacked candidates who had come from different states for the Group D category examinations in Mumbai, Borivali, Sion, Bhandup, Mulund, Thane, Dombivli, Nalla Sopara, as well as parts of Sholapur district.
In Pune, Sena activists barged into an examination centre and tore off candidates' hall tickets and question papers and raised slogans demanding railway jobs for Marathi youth. They also roughed up candidates who travelled by first class compartments in suburban trains and made them travel in second class compartments.
However, despite the disruptions, authorities managed to conduct the examinations at a majority of the centres amid tight police security.
The MNS had earlier warned the railway administration against allowing "outsiders" to appear for the railway examinations.
