Manoj Bhagat, who was injured in the shooting, in a Mumbai hospital. (AP)

New Delhi, Oct. 27: The Centre and the Congress today faced tough questions from their heartland leaders and allies after Mumbai police shot dead a Patna youth in the latest episode of the Maharashtrian-versus-north Indian row.

A Congress leader in an all-Bihar team that met the Prime Minister today said he had asked Manmohan Singh if his government only championed the well-off and powerful and not the “poor and disempowered”.

The controversy dampened the Congress’s campaign against the BJP’s alleged Malegaon blast links and sent it scurrying to placate Bihar allies Lalu Prasad and Ram Vilas Paswan.

The party’s own heartland MPs wondered why the government was “going slow” against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and the Shiv Sena’s Bal Thackeray.

“It is statistically established that Marathi-speaking people hold most of the skilled, well-paying jobs in Maharashtra. They are well represented in politics and every other power structure,” said the Congress leader who claimed to have asked the Prime Minister the question about the “disempowered”.

“Heartland migrants do the menial work. But why is our party only speaking up for the rights and interests of the Marathi speakers?”

A Congress MP from Maharashtra provided the answer: “Our stakes in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh are much lower compared with Maharashtra. Uttar Pradesh matters in so far as it is the political turf of Sonia and Rahul Gandhi. But we have a government in Maharashtra and (many) MPs. We have to protect our territory from being eaten away by Sharad Pawar.”

Some in the party believe the Shiv Sena-MNS rhetoric and violence will leave Maharashtra’s north Indians with no choice but to vote Congress in the next election to “save their life and limbs”.

However, Manmohan promised Lalu Prasad and Paswan he would seek a report from the Maharashtra government on the shooting and speak to chief minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Union home minister Shivraj Patil.

Congress officials are unhappy with Maharashtra home minister R.R. Patil’s defence of the police. Patil said bullets would be answered with bullets.