Threatening to affect the cohesion of the UPA, division in the ruling coalition over the ?son of the soil? controversy fanned by the Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena led by Raj Thackeray is widening between representatives from Maharashtra and those hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

The demand for stringent action by the LJP as well as the RJD leadership against the Vilasrao Deshmukh government for his failure to protect north Indians in Maharashtra is now being vehemently contested by the NCP headed by Sharad Pawar, who are insistent that the state government has not lacked anywhere in pinning responsibility on Raj Thackeray and the MNS.

The aggressive posturing of the RJD and the LJP on the issue has made the NCP very upset, whose leaders are unhappy that the latter is only trying to gain political mileage out of it instead of trying to find a solution. Pawar, sources affirmed, had got in touch with Lalu and tried to reason out with him that joining issues on the matter would only lead to damage, but the latter is understood to have dismissed his pleas and intimated that he was going ahead with his plan to resign his parliamentary membership. Lalu Prasad gave a call to all Bihar MPs and MLAs to give up their membership in protest against attacks on biharis in Maharashtra, on Sunday .

A senior NCP leader on Monday pointed out that as many as 1,021 cases had been registered against MNS workers and 4,758 arrests made since February 3 this year, when it initiated an anti-north Indian agitation in various parts of Maharashtra. The state government also made 10,496 preventive arrests in the same period, he affirmed, while adding that 88 cases, till date, had been filed against the MNS chief Raj Thackeray. ?Yet, there has been an attempt to project as if the state government is not doing anything. And there is a manufactured clamour for imposing President?s Rule in Maharashtra? he said.

The senior leader maintained that such kind of action by the state government had been taken even when in reality, only three incidents had taken place in Mumbai, referring to the MNS agitation at exam centres for the railway recruitment board (RRB) exam, the Rahul Raj episode and the killing of another labourer from Uttar Pradesh on a Mumbai local train.

UPA circles feel that a possibly serious fracas in the Union Cabinet was averted last week with the absence of NCP representatives Sharad Pawar and Praful Patel, when the steel and fertilisers minister Ram Vilas Paswan and RJD ministers raised the issue. They had virtually bulldozed the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh by asking him what action was being taken against the Deshmukh government. Pawar had a pre-scheduled Diwali celebrations programme in his constituency, Baramati last week.

The aggressive posturing of the RJD and the LJP on the issue has made the NCP very upset about politicisation of issue.