NEW DELHI, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- A regional party leader in India's Maharashtra state Raj Thackeray Saturday warned he would not allow the work on bullet train project until the infrastructure of local railways was made better.
"I shall not allow even a brick for the bullet train project to be laid. First resolve all the basic problems of Mumbai commuters. If (Narendra) Modi wants, let him construct it in Gujarat. If they use force, we shall also retaliate," Thackeray said.
Thackeray's comments came a day after a stampede on a footbridge at the Elphinstone railway station in Mumbai killed 23 and injured over 30 others.
Thackeray, head of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) party, is the nephew of Bal Thackeray, the founder of the right-wing Hindu Shiv Sena party. He left the Shiv Sena and formed MNS in March 2006.
The MNS has been campaigning for greater rights for the ethnic Marathi people of Maharashtra and the party has been accused of carrying out attacks on migrant workers in the past in city.
Indian government launched work to build its first high-speed train in Gujarat this month. The bullet train likely to be built in five years' time will run between Ahmedabad city and Mumbai.
