Mukesh Ambani’s support for Deora is a message to the country, says Raj

‘This is the first time in our history that a Pakistan PM tells us who should be our PM’

Political expose: (Left) MNS chief Raj Thackeray introducing the family of Janardan D. Chile at a meeting in Kalachowki on Tuesday. Mr. Chile’s family picture was used for an advertisement on Facebook (top) on the PM’s achievement in eradicating poverty. The family, who lives in Kalachowki, has no clue who took this picture and how it came on the advertisement.

Maharashtra Navanirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray, in his signature style that has been a constant during his campaign rallies this season, on Tuesday took jibes at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the BJP government, using video clips, social media photographs, and statistics. At his first rally in Mumbai and seventh in the State, Mr. Thackeray had a full house at Shaheed Bhagat Singh Maidan at Kalachowki.

“They say my speech scripts come from Baramati (NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s stronghold). They say I am being instigated by Mr. Pawar. But when the PM himself says he has been handheld by Mr. Pawar, why point a finger at me?” Mr. Thackeray said and asked his media team to first play the video clips in which the PM is talking against Mr. Pawar and then a series of video clips where Mr. Modi is praising Mr. Pawar.

The MNS chief then showed a news clip of Mukesh Ambani backing Congress’s Mumbai South candidate Milind Deora. “This is a message to the country. The BJP is not coming back,” he said, adding such a thing has never happened where an industrialist has made such a statement.

“On the other hand, Pakistan PM Imran Khan wants Mr. Modi to be the PM. This is the first time in our history that a Pakistan PM tells us who should be our PM,” he said.

Mr. Thackeray questioned Anil Ambani’s role in Rafale scam, and then said that the highest number of jawans has died in the BJP rule. “What can you say about a PM who is asking for votes in the name of jawans who died in Pulwama,” he said.

Mr. Thackeray summed up his speech by appealing to the crowd not to bring Mr. Modi and Amit Shah to power. He said the Shiv Sena is in an alliance with them and thus voting for the Sena also translates into voting for Mr. Modi and Mr. Shah.

Did Modi do this?

Mr. Thackeray also invited the family of Janardan D. Chile on stage whose picture was circulated on social media with a tag line stating that Mr. Modi had pulled them out of poverty. The family, Mr. Thackeray said, was shocked to see their picture photoshopped besides the PM and the tag line.