A day after Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis called the Shiv Sena a party of ‘extortionists’, Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray shot back saying no one takes Lord Krishna’s place just because he thinks so.
At a BJP rally on Saturday, Mr. Fadnavis had described the outfit’s dominance over Mumbai for the past two decades as a “huge loss” to the city. BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar had drawn on the Mahabharata to say Mr. Fadnavis was Lord Krishna, who will advise them in the fight against the ‘Kauravas’ (Sena).
“He (Fadnavis) had earlier said that no one becomes the Prime Minister simply by giving a speech from the Red Fort. Similarly, nobody becomes Lord Krishna just because one thinks so. I will not speak on what he has said. People of Mumbai will respond to it. His earlier image has been maligned. Now, one fears if the image will become that of a CM of goons,” Mr. Thackeray said on Sunday. He was speaking to reporters after former Leader of Opposition in the BMC and Congress corporator Devendra Amberkar joined the Sena.
Mr. Thackeray didn’t spare BJP national president Amit Shah over the party’s manifesto for Uttar Pradesh, where it has promised to build a Ram Temple in Ayodhya. “They must be looking for the bricks they had collected earlier. If they find those bricks, may be they will build the temple. Mandir banayenge, par kab banayenge (You will build the temple, but when?),” the Sena chief said, adding that BJP’s masks have fallen off. “Their (BJP leaders’) real faces have come before the people,” he said.
Earlier in the day, a meeting of BJP leaders including Mr Fadnavis and Mumbai BJP president Ashish Shelar was held to finalise the party’s nominees for the February 21 BMC polls. After Shiv Sena announced it will be contesting the polls on its own, the BJP is in the process of finalising candidates. It will be leaving seats for its smaller allies, a BJP functionary said. A list of 120 candidates has been finalised, while the remaining list will be finalised by Monday. The party is likely to release its manifesto in coming week.
