Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday felicitated six party workers, who allegedly smeared Observer and Research Foundation chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni’s face with black paint to protest former Pakistan Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri’s book launch in Mumbai.
The Sena workers met Mr. Thackeray at the latter’s residence ’Matoshree’ in suburban Bandra.
“During his meeting with these activists, Uddhavji patted them for their work,” a source close to the Sena leader said.
The six — Gajanand Patil, Dinesh Prasad, Ashok Waghmare, Prakash Husbe, Samadhan Jadhav and Venkatesh Nair — were on Monday arrested and later released.
Meanwhile, Mr. Kulkarni on Tuesday described himself as an “agent of peace” and not a “Pakistani agent” as labelled by Shiv Sena and asked the saffron party to respect other people’s freedom of expression.
