Shiv Sena (UBT) President Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday launched a scathing attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), accusing the former ally of indulging in "power jihad" by breaking political parties to form a government.
Thackeray's remark came as a reply to Union Home Minister Amit Shah's "Aurangzeb Fan Club' barb aimed at him. During an event in Pune last month, Shah had dubbed him "the head of the Aurangzeb fan club" who was "sitting with people who sought pardon for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon".
What all did Thackeray say today?
Addressing party workers at the Shiv Sankalp rally in Mumbai, the Shiv Sena (UBT) chief dubbed the top BJP leader a political descendant of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan king who defeated the Marathas in the third battle of Panipat.
Besides slamming the BJP, Thackeray also came down heavily on the Eknath Shinde-led party faction of bribing voters by giving "revdis" (freebies) to them in the form of schemes like the Mukhyamantri Ladki Bahin Yojana, under which eligible women in the state will get Rs 1,500 every month.
In his speech, Thackeray didn't forget to reiterate the recent incident of leakage within 14 months of construction in the new Parliament building before targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"The PM asks what the Congress did in 60-70 years, but Modi should give an account on why the new Parliament building, which was built barely a year ago, started leaking", he said.
"This government (at the Centre) is a leakage government. There are paper leaks also," he said.
Reiterating the matter of cast-based discriminations, Thackeray also accused the BJP for promoting division. "This is not the Hindutva taught to us by Chhatrapati Shivaji. This (the one practised by the BJP) must have been taught by Aurangzeb which we do not believe in. Our Hindutva is the one that takes forward the Maharashtra dharma of Chhatrapati Shivaji," he said.
Taking a dig at the delay in getting judgement on disqualification of MLAs who rebelled against him, Thackeray said, "We have faith in the judiciary. The result will be given in 5-50 years. The term of (the legislative assembly) is getting over. Even if they (the rebel MLAs) are disqualified, they can contest polls."
