Mumbai Mayor seeks PM's clarification over remarks

MUMBAI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's comments about 'freeing municipal administration from corruption and land mafia' has stirred a hornet's nest, with Mumbai Mayor Datta Dalvi shooting off a letter to Singh, seeking his clarification over the remarks.
Leaders of Shiv Sena and BJP, the parties that rule Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation have also condemned remarks about the BMC.
Dalvi, who belongs to Shiv Sena, wrote to the PM on Thursday, saying 'your speech was in a larger context about the need for reforms in urban governance and municipal administration'.
"But the media misinterpreted it, which may have serious political repercussions since Sena-BJP alliance has been ruling the BMC for over nine years," he said, urging a clarification on the matter.
Reacting to Singh's remarks, Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray said Singh was 'playing to the tune of the anti-Maharashtra lobby in Delhi'.
BJP leader Gopinath Munde said the PM's remarks about setting up a separate authority for Mumbai were aimed at `separating Mumbai from rest of the state'.