Mumbai: At his last rally before campaigning ends for the BMC elections, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray made an emotional appeal to voters, asking them to not forget Mumbai’s connection to the Sena and the Thackeray family, which he said has served the people for the last four generations.
“We were not prepared for the split [with the BJP] after the Lok Sabha polls. BJP leaders in Delhi thought Shiv Sainiks will not stand with me, but they forgot that the Shiv Sainik is inspired by Balasaheb [Thackeray] and is my strength, and all of you stood with me. I have taken a decision this time. I have taken it depending on you and you all are my strength, your blessings will take me to victory,” he said at the rally held at the Bandra Kurla Complex on Saturday.
He said criticism by the BJP had not bothered him till it turned personal. “But now you [BJP] have crossed the limit. You have targeted Matoshri, you have targeted the Thackeray family. It will take you 700 generations to wipe out the Sena from Mumbai.”
Mr. Thackeray said in 2012, then-CM Prithviraj Chavan had said the Sena will not be visible after the BMC polls that year. “But these days, Mr. Chavan has become invisible. We stand where we were. On February 23, Mr. Fadnavis too will realise his stature is like that of Mr. Chavan.”
Referring to Mr. Fadnavis’s rally in Pune on Saturday, which had to be cancelled due to poor attendance, he claimed people are “fed up of Mr. Fadnavis’s lies”.
Daring the BJP to take action against Sena mouthpiece Saamana , Mr. Thackeray said even making such a demand smacks of the Emergency imposed by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi. “The country should not be run with the intention of taking revenge. If you (BJP) even think of doing it with us, we will pay you back in the same coin,” he said.
