Mumbai: There was a time in Maharashtra when Shiv Sena had the upper hand. Every party wanted to join hands with Shiv Sena. Now the picture has changed. First Shiv Sena lost the party, now Thackeray surname is also slipping. Angered by this, Shiv Sena (UBT) Chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday accused the ruling BJP at the Center of trying to steal a Thackeray to win the elections. Uddhav Thackeray’s comments came in the wake of a meeting held in Delhi between Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray and Union Home Minister Amit Shah. Uddhav Thackeray, while addressing a gathering in Nanded district, also said that if BJP takes his cousin on board, it will not bother him.
Uddhav said, “BJP knows very well that it is not going to get votes in the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Maharashtra. People vote in the name of (Bal) Thackeray here. This realization has prompted the BJP to try to steal leaders from outside (BJP).” He accused the BJP of trying to usurp Bal Thackeray’s legacy. First, they stole Bal Thackeray’s photograph, but it does not matter, he said at the conclusion of his two-day tour of Nanded and Hingoli districts in the Marathwada region. Today, they are trying to steal another Thackeray…take it, I and my people are enough. Uddhav Thackeray’s party is part of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi and ‘India’ alliance. He claimed that even Christians and Muslims have no problem with his style of Hindutva. He said, when we were with BJP, the image of Shiv Sena (Undivided) was getting tarnished but ever since we broke ties with them, members of the Christian and Muslim community are also saying that they have no problem with our Hindutva ideology.
On the other hand, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Sanjay Raut also alleged on Tuesday that Raj Thackeray-led MNS and BJP are trying to form an alliance as they are scared of the success of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA). Asked about the meeting between Raj Thackeray and Union Home Minister Amit Shah in Delhi, Raut said if MNS joins the BJP-led grand alliance, it will have no impact on state politics. “These developments are happening out of fear of the success of the MVA,” he said. Raut said the people of Maharashtra are very intelligent and they will not tolerate anyone taking a stand against the state. Apart from Shiv Sena (UBT), Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (Sharadchandra Pawar) are the other constituents in the MVA.
When Shiv Sena was undivided, Raj Thackeray, due to his differences with Uddhav, had parted ways with it and founded Maharashtra Navnirman Sena in 2006. Even though Raj Thackeray is seen as a powerful speaker and has a base of supporters, his party could not make much of an impact.
