Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said fighting had started within the Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s latest meeting with senior BJP leader Amit Shah showed Shinde’s helpless situation.
Speaking at a gathering of the Shikshak Sena, teachers’ wing of his party, Thackeray also took a swipe at the BJP, saying when other parties offer pre-polls sops, it is called `revdi’, but when the ruling party does the same thing, it is seen as a favour to the people.
“They (Mahayuti partners) have started fighting among themselves. Someone has gone to Delhi to rant that he has been beaten up. Why this helplessness?” Thackeray said, without naming Shinde, who heads the rival Shiv Sena.
They (Mahayuti partners) have started fighting among themselves. Someone has gone to Delhi to rant that he has been beaten up. Why this helplessness?" Thackeray said, without naming Shinde who heads the rival Shiv Sena.
The ruling Mahayuti comprises the BJP, Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Ajit Pawar-led NCP.
Speaking at another event of senior party workers later in the day, Thackeray said, "The Mahayuti parties are swallowing each other."
Notably, Shiv Sena ministers barring Shinde skipped the weekly cabinet meeting on Tuesday over the BJP'spoaching of its leaders ahead of local body polls. On Wednesday, Shinde met Shah in Delhi, leading to speculation that he wanted to air his grievances about the state BJP leadership.
“We see photos of (someone) licking Delhi’s boots. They are traitors. As far as I remember, Shiv Sena president (late Bal Thackeray) went to Delhi only once. I go there if there is a proper invitation from the INDIA group, or to meet the MPs. But even that is once a year,” said Uddhav Thackeray.
“But what is happening right now is that (Shinde) is going to Delhi to prostrate. How can these cronies take forward the ideals of Shiv Sena president,” Thackeray said at the senior party workers’ gathering.
The former Maharashtra chief minister also hit out at the BJP for its plan to induct Kashinath Choudhary, a leader from Palghar who is accused of being involved in the mob lynching of two sadhus in 2020. The BJP later stayed his induction.
On April 16, 2020, religious leaders Chikne Maharaj Kalpavrukshagiri (70) and Sushil Giri Maharaj (35) and their driver Nilesh Telgade (30) were stoned to death by a mob in Gadchinchale village following rumours about child abductions during the COVID-19 lockdown.
At the time of the incident, the BJP had fiercely attacked the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government led by Uddhav Thackeray.
“The BJP inducted Choudhary in Palghar. It had made hue and cry and linked him to the crime. It kept accusing the undivided Shiv Sena of being anti-Hindu when I was CM….Now isn’t this an insult to Hindutva?” Thackeray asked.
“If Chaudhary was linked to the crime, why did the BJP induct him in the party. And if he was not linked to the crime then why did it stay it,” he said.
“Revdi has become the norm now. What others give is revdi and what one does is favour. This is today’s politics,” Thackeray said without naming the BJP.
In Maharashtra, both the Opposition and Mahayuti have highlighted the role of the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana, which ensures monthly aid of Rs 1,500 to eligible women, in the stunning victory of the ruling alliance in last year’s assembly polls.
“Who will focus on education in Maharashtra, because we (BJP) don’t have time for that. It is not our responsibility to teach kids, because we want to break parties, MLAs and MPs and rule,” Thackeray said, taking another swipe at the saffron party.
