The infighting between the Shiv Sena and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) will only benefit the Congress in Lok Sabha polls, claimed Maharshtra industries minister and senior congress leader Narayan Rane on Saturday.
“Ever since they (Uddhav and Raj Thackeray) have started their verbal war, our chances of winning more seats in Maharashtra have increased. Let them fight,” said Mr. Rane, a former shiv sainik.
In the last week, the estranged Thackeray cousins had quarrelled in their public rallies. The MNS chief Raj Thackeray accused his cousin and Sena president Uddhav Thackeray of not caring ailing Bal Thackeray during his last days.
The Sena leader had accused his cousin of ‘backstabbing’ late Bal Thackeray. The activists of both the parties even clashed on Mumbai’s streets, pelting stones and soda bottles, after the altercation between the two leaders.
Mr. Rane also attacked the Bharatiya Janata Party’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi, accusing him of presenting false figures of industrial growth in Gujarat.
“Maharashtra is ahead of Gujarat in almost every parameter of industrial growth. He (Narendra Modi) is presenting absolutely false figure with no substantial proof. He has always been lying,” he said.
Maharashtra’s chief minister Prithviraj Chavan, too, in the past had challenged Mr. Modi for a debate over the comparison of industrial growth between the two states. Mr. Chavan has been repeatedly claiming that Maharashtra has always been ahead of Gujarat in every parameter.
