Results show Mumbai cannot be separated from Maha: Thackeray

Thanking voters for yet again reposing faith in his party in the municipal elections, Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today said the poll results have shown that Mumbai cannot be separated from Maharashtra.

"The results in Mumbai and Thane (won by Sena-BJP combine) show that Mumbai cannot be separated from Maharashtra," he said in a statement published in party mouthpiece `Saamana'.

"I don't have words to thank the voters. There were attempts to encircle us, both from those from our home and outside," he said in an apparent reference to his estranged nephew Raj Thackeray and political opponents.

The Sena chief also lambasted a `section of media', who he said, were maligning the party's image through defamatory articles at the behest of some leaders.

In an editorial in the Marathi newspaper, Thackeray also targeted Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over his comments that Shiv Sena would be rendered "inconsequential" after the polls.

"Where is Chavan now? Now, he is hiding his face."

Nobody was successful in removing the `saffron flag' from Mumbai and Thane corporations, he said.

Overcoming anti-incumbency factor and stiff challenge from Raj Thackeray-led MNS, the saffron combine has retained power in the prestigious Mumbai civic body and neighbouring Thane Municipal Corporation.