In a dramatic development, a Maharashtra minister and Shiv Sena leader tried to join the opposition Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) protest against his government amid the raging language debate in Maharashtra. MNS workers heckled the minister, Pratap Sarnaik, and forced him to leave the protest site in Thane.

Several workers of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were detained in Thane's Mira Road this morning when they took out a march to counter the protests against the 'slapgate' incident, in which MNS workers assaulted a food stall owner for not speaking Marathi.