The decisive victory of Aam Adami Party (AAP) in the Delhi assembly polls appears to have encouraged even the allies of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to take potshots at them.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday suppoted veteran social worker Anna Hazare’s view that the results of the Delhi assemblyelections is a defeat for Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I agree to Annaji’s view that this defeat has nothing to do with Kiran Bedi. It is a defeat of Narendra Modi,” said Mr. Thackeray in Mumbai, reacting to the AAP landslide. He congratulated the people of Delhi and Arvind Kejriwal for winning the elections.
“We must praise democracy and the people of Delhi. Arvind Kejriwal has shown that Tsunami (of support) is much bigger than any wave,” Mr. Thackeray taunted when asked about Mr. Kejriwal’s popularity in comparison with the ‘Modi wave’ seen during the Lok Sabha polls.
'Lesson to be learnt'
The Sena president went on to advice the BJP leadership, without naming it, that it must learn the lesson of not taking people for granted. “I will surely attend the swearing in ceremony, if I get the invitation,” he added.
The Maharashtra unit of BJP, however, has taken Mr. Thackeray’s statements too seriously. “The Sena should show the guts of quitting the State Government, if it feels that it is the defeat of Modiji,” said BJP’s Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar, reacting sharply to the statement.
Earlier, Mr. Thackeray’s son and Yuva Sena chief Aaditya Thackeray had tweeted that the Thackerays telephoned Mr. Kejriwal to congratulate him for his ‘massive’ and ‘decisive’ victory.
“I congratulate #Delhi! They observed and chose, and chose decisively, after being left government-less n chaotic for a year. #DecisiveDelhi” he had tweeted.
