Oct 23 (Mumbai Mirror): The state unit of Congress on Thursday filed a police complaint against Shiv Sena for "insulting" President Pranab Mukherjee through an "objectionable poster", which claimed that he "bowed" before Bal Thackeray.

A delegation of Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC), led by party legislator Bhai Jagtap, lodged the complaint at Shivaji Park Police Station. "The objectionable write up on the poster was close to the President's picture. Mukherjee had visited Thackeray during the Presidential election campaign. In keeping with Indian culture and tradition, Mukherjee folded his hands on meeting Thackeray. But, a write up on the poster says the President bowed before him," the complaint said.

Congress has accused the Sena of using the poster showing the President, who is the constitutional head of the country, for "political mudslinging", the party said.

The poster, which was put up at the Sena Bhavan in Dadar by the Shiv Sena's East Mumbai unit, also showed Prime Minister Narendra Modi bowing before Thackeray.

Meanwhile, on the eve of the foundation day of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), its general secretary Suresh Joshi called the Shiv Sena's tirade against Pakistani artistes as political. "There are political reasons behind it," he said.

The senior RSS leader echoed Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis's view that the Shiv Sena's agitation had brought a bad name to the state, but dismissed the suggestion that the issue had created a rift between BJP and Shiv Sena. "Not only BJP and Shiv Sena but all the political parties should come together in opposing Pakistan," he said.