Mumbai exploited by some Congress leaders

Mumbai Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray alleged in his party's newspaper Saamna that Mumbai had been exploited by some Congress politicians who secured their positions of power in the state by sending "money bags" to the party at the centre.

"Persons like S.K Patil, Rajni Patel, Murli Deora and today's Kripashankar Singh developed this habit [of sending bags] to the central leaders which in turn appointed collection agents to loot Mumbai," Thackeray alleged.

He was reacting to Nationalist Congress Party president and Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar's comments on Saturday that the Maharashtra state government had ignored Mumbai for too long.