MUMBAI: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Monday demanded that a case should be filed against Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed for setting free hardline separatist leader Masarat Alam.

Thackeray’s soundbites are expected to further embarass its ally BJP at a time when it is facing flak from all over because of the actions of its coalition partner in Jammu and Kashmir, said political analysts.

Stating that Sayeed’s decision to release the “hardened terrorist” Alam is an insult to the country’s security forces, Thackeray said: “Why shouldn’t a case be filed against the Jammu and Kashmir CM for freeing a terrorist?”

The Shiv Sena president was talking to mediapersons at Shivalay, the Nariman Point office of the Shiv Sena. “It is shocking that separatist leaders meet leaders from Pakistan ,” Thackeray said.

Thackeray criticism of Sayeed was in keeping with the Shiv Sena’s increasingly tough stance when it came to the BJP in recent weeks. “Uddhav Thackeray has dropped not-so-subtle hints that his party will hereafter closely follow the J&K affairs under the PDP-BJP regime,” a senior state BJP functionary said.

