MUMBAI: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday lashed out at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for comparing Mumbai to Patna, and called him a liar. “Comparing Mumbai to Patna is an insult to the people of Mumbai and Patna.”
At a public meeting in Kandivli, Mr. Thackeray said he would leave politics and dared the CM to do the same if the BJP could find any similarity between Mumbai and Patna. He challenged him to instead reveal details of the Nandlal committee report, which had enquired into the corruption charges in the Nagpur Municipal Corporation.
The Sena leader said, “All this criticism from the BJP is only after we refused to give them 114 seats in the BMC. Had we heeded to their demand, then Mumbai would have become comparable to London? Had we been so bad, then why did the BJP come to us thrice for seat-sharing talks? I was so fed up of their lies and pretences that I finally broke the alliance.”
Flaunting a copy of the Economic Survey, he said he had proved right about the Mumbai corporation topping the chart of most transparently-administered cities in the country. “How can the BJP deny their own Central government report? They lie so blatantly that even those of us who talk the truth get confused. A liar cannot be the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. The Sena will never lie for getting votes. The people of Mumbai will have to choose between liars and those who have work experience.”
“If they are sincere in bringing in transparency, then let the State government allow the opposition leader and even reporters in the State Cabinet meetings to let people know how decisions are taken.” Mr. Thackeray also challenged the State government to make public the file notings of ministers and department secretaries so that people get to know ‘who ate the chikki?’, a reference to the chikki scam. He also demanded that the BJP leadership be transparent enough to tell people about who took the decision of demonetisation, which no one now wants to own up.
Criticising Mr. Modi’s slogan of ‘ Desh badal raha hai (the nation is changing)’, Mr. Thackeray said, “I notice no change in our country. The nation is changing for the PM since he travels so much that he sees a new country every day.”
