Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday trained guns at the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra, claiming that there was no unity in the alliance after Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar objected to Uttar Pradesh CM Yogi Adityanath’s ‘batenge toh katenge’ remark.
Addressing a poll rally in Buldhana, Thackeray said: “Ajit Pawar’s disapproval of Yogi’s remark shows there is no unity in the ruling Mahayuti alliance. In this scenario, Maharashtra does not need to learn any lesson from the UP chief minister.”
Yogi Adityanath, who has been campaigning for the Mahayuti in Maharashtra, has been raising “batenge toh katenge” slogan at his election rallies. Reacting to the remark, BJP ally and NCP supremo Ajit Pawar on Thursday stated that the people of Maharashtra do not appreciate such remarks, and that they have always strived to maintain communal harmony.
The Mahayuti alliance comprises the Bharatiya Janata Party, Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, and Ajit Pawar’s NCP.
Thackeray also took a swipe at the BJP over Yogi Adityanath’s Maharashtra campaigning stating that it has to bring leaders from outside the state to campaign ahead of the elections.
“The Maharashtra assembly election is a contest between those who love Maharashtra and those who betray it,” he said, calling the Mahayuti allies as betrayers of the state.
He also accused the CM Eknath Shinde-led government of being the “most corrupt” in the history of Maharashtra, referring to the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s statue in Sindhudurg district. The statue of Shivaji Maharaj was unveiled last year by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“The Mahayuti government is the most corrupt in Maharashtra’s history. They indulged in corruption in building the statue (of Shivaji Maharaj). Work done with inauspicious hands does not see any success and the statue collapsed,” Thackeray said.
Thackeray also announced that if the Maha Vikas Aghadi is voted to power, it will build the temples of Shivaji Maharaj in every district. “The temples will highlight the teachings of Shivaji Maharaj on how to govern and respect women,” the former chief minister said, promising to build the Maratha warrior king’s temple at Surat in Gujarat.
He further alleged that Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis “cannot tolerate” the slogan ‘Shivaji Maharaj ki jai’ and that the Mahayuti thinks the Maratha warrior is a “vote-getting machine”.
“He (Fadnavis) said you build a temple in Mumbra (a Muslim dominated locality in Thane) first. Do you find it difficult to build Chhatrapati Shivaji’s temple in the home district of CM (Shinde)? They think Shivaji Maharaj is a vote-getting machine,” Thackeray said.
The former Maharashtra chief minister questioned Ajit Pawar on how he sat next to Fadnavis, knowing his party had arrested NCP leader Nawab Malik and linked him to Dawood Ibrahim.
Nawab Malik, who will be contesting Maharashtra elections, was arrested by the Enforcement Directorate in 2022 in connection with a money laundering case. Howevr, he was later released on bail. Now, he is NCP’s candidate from Mankhurd Shivajinagar, despite objections from the BJP.
The Shiv Sena (UBT) chief also accused the saffron party of attacking his party with the help of “dacoits”, apparently referring to the MLAs who sided with Eknath Shinde after rebelling against him.
“The Shiv Sena stood with the BJP in its tough times. Had Shiv Sena not been there, Modi would not have been the prime minister and Fadnavis would not have been the CM,” he said.
Thackeray also claimed that the wind of victory was blowing in favour of the MVA in Maharashtra.
