'It was decided to declare 'Matoshri' as jail', reveals Chhagan Bhujbal on Balasaheb Thackeray arrest

Balasaheb Thackeray came forward for the jobs of Marathi people. In the very first speech of Shivaji Park, I became a Shiv Sainik. I was one of the 15 branch heads in Mumbai. I don't have parents. I used to consider Balasaheb and Masaheb (Meenatai) as my parents. Shiv Sena is a family. The head of this family was Balasaheb. Minister Chhagan Bhujbal recalled memories that he had never seen Balasaheb angry.

We had announced at Shivaji Park that we would implement the Shrikrishna Commission after the formation of the NCP. The commission was appointed after the 1993 riots. Manohar Joshi had rejected the report when he was the Chief Minister. When Manohar Joshi and Gopinath Munde were in power, many files against Shiv Sena were closed. When I was the Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister. At that time there were many cases regarding Shrikrishna Commission had come in front of me. I had to take this action when I was in office because we had declared that we would accept the Shrikrishna Commission.

I did not wanted to bother Balasaheb. We had decided not to put Balasaheb in jail. If he asks for bail, we would not deny him the bail. But if the court denied bail, we had decided to declare Matoshri as Jail, as a Home Minister I had that right. Minister Chhagan Bhujbal said that he could have declared a building as a jail. Chhagan Bhujbal has made this comment in a face to face interview given to Lokmat.