Won't hand over Koregaon-Bhima probe to Centre

Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said his government will not hand over the probe in the Koregaon-Bhima violence case to the Centre.

The violence was a result of the alleged inflammatory speeches delivered at the Elgar Parishad conclave at Shaniwarwada in Pune on December 31, 2017.

The Maharashtra government had recently okayed the handing over of investigation into the Elgar Parishad case to the National Investigation Agency (NIA).

"Elgar and Koregaon-Bhima are two separate topics. The issue facing my Dalit brothers is about Koregaon-Bhima and I will not give it to the Centre. I want to make it clear that there will be no injustice to Dalit brothers," Thackeray tweeted.

NCP chief Sharad Pawar had recently publicly expressed his unhappiness over Thackeray's decision to hand over the Elgar Parishad probe to the NIA. The NCP is a key constituent of the Shiv Sena-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, along with the Congress party.

Moreover, Uddhav Thackeray also said that he won't block the National Population Register (NPR) in the state. Thackeray assured that he will "personally check the columns" in the NPR, adding there shouldn't be any problem with the exercise in Maharashtra. However, he said that the Maharashtra government will not allow NRC implementation in the state.

"CAA and NRC are different and NPR is different. No one has to worry if CAA gets implemented. NRC is not there and will not be implemented in the state," Thackeray tweeted.

NPR will happen in the state as there is nothing controversial about it, he said.

"If NRC is implemented then it will affect not only Hindus or Muslims but also Adivasis. NPR is a census, and I don't find that anyone will be affected as it happens every 10 years," he said.