LJP workers protest against Nitish Kumar-led JD(U) government and the NDA in Patna on Monday. (PTI)

Patna, Nov. 9: The incident of MLAs belonging to Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navinirman Sena (MNS) assaulting Samajvadi Party (SP) colleague Abu Azmi has triggered strong words in Bihar, with leaders cutting across party lines asking for strict action against “lawless elements occupying the Maharashtra House”.

Chief minister Nitish Kumar demanded that the Centre ban the MNS and initiate action against the MLAs concerned. “The Centre should proscribe the MNS,” Nitish said, adding: “Criminal cases should be lodged against MLAs who assaulted Azmi in the House which should be treated as the temple of the Constitution.”

“We respect the Marathi language. However, today’s incident was disrespectful to our national language and is abominable,” Nitish said.

The MNS MLAs assaulted Azmi for reading out his oath in Hindi.

RJD boss Lalu Prasad and LJP chief Ram Vilas Paswan spit venom against Raj Thackeray for taking Indian Constitution to ransom.

“The nation should hang its head in shame on what the MLAs did to a duly-elected colleague today and that, too, in the Assembly,” Lalu said, adding: “Prime Minister Manmohan Singh should call an all-party meeting to discuss if the MNS is a constitutional outfit. The MNS is trying to break the nation into pieces and so, it should be proscribed.”

Ram Vilas Paswan, too, said that the “case of treason should be instituted against the MNS MLAs for assaulting their SP colleagues”. “The MNS MLAs and Raj Thackeray should be tried for sedition. If MLAs are not aware of what the Constitution asks them to do, then they should walk out of the House,” he said.

“The Speaker should take firm action to uphold the sanctity of the Constitution in Maharashtra.”

Bihar leaders have been at loggerheads with Raj Thackeray and MNS for over a year now after the MNS-sponsored tirade against the people of Bihar in particular and Hindi heartland in general.

About a year ago, Mumbai police gunned down a Patna boy, Rahul Raj, and MNS workers assaulted several candidates from Bihar and UP who had travelled to the Maharashtra capital to appear at a railway recruitment board examination. While Nitish wrote letters to his Maharastra counterpart to check the misbehaviour, Lalu and Paswan launched scathing attacks on the MNS on the issue.