Mumbai: Terming the delay in executing the death sentence of Parliament attack convict Mohd Afzal as 'an insult to the law of the land', Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray yesterday(Jan 29, 2007) said there was no need for President A P J Abdul Kalam to refer Afzal's mercy plea to Union Home Ministry.

"There was no need to pass over the file of Guru's clemency petition to the Home ministry", Thackeray told an election rally in neighbouring Thane.

"Is he (Kalam) unable to go through the contents? Why do we need a President who hands over files to the Home Ministry?" he said.

Thackeray praised Kalam and claimed he did "not allow Sonia Gandhi to stake claim to the Prime Minister's post after the Congress managed to secure majority in 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

"Saying she (Sonia Gandhi) is a foreign national, he (Kalam) even dared her to go to the court then", the Sena supremo claimed and added and now look, how he is behaving (in the matter of Afzal), Questioning the delay in hanging of Afzal, he said sarcastically is there a shortage of rope in the country? Deploring the law and order situation in Maharashtra, Thackeray cited a recent statement by NCP MP and Sharad Pawar's daughter Supriya Sule who had said she feared going out on morning walks due to the presence of an alleged serial killer in Mumbai," he said.