Accusing Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray of playing "dirty" politics, Congress leader Nitesh Rane on Thursday threatened to place hawkers outside Thackeray's residence 'Matoshree' if the BMC's proposal to set up hawking pitches outside Rane's home was not scrapped. "Uddhav Thackeray is playing cheap and dirty politics and the BMC, run by his party, is blatantly flouting High Court norms which state that there cannot be a hawking zone around temples, mosques and schools," Rane told reporters here.

He said there is a school just 10 metres away from his home but, despite that, a hawking pitch had been proposed outside his house. "If this policy is not scrapped altogether, we know how to put up hawkers outside Matoshree as well," Rane said. In a move that could stir up a controversy, the BMC,
faced with surplus applications for licences, has proposed to set up hawking pitches (zones) outside Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray's bunglow "Krishnakunj" at Dadar's Keluskar road, among other VIP houses.

The MNS has, earlier, vandalised hawking stalls in several parts of the city as well as in neighbouring Thane and Navi Mumbai.