Two days after the split in the 25-year-old alliance of the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday accused the BJP of having pre-planned to break the alliance.
“The plan to break the alliance was pre-planned. I tried hard to ensure that the alliance remained in tact. However, they always wanted to break the alliance and made unreasonable demands right till the very end,” said Mr.Thackeray.
While taking on the BJP for the most part of his 40-minute speech, he hardly targeted the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP). In an emotional appeal to Shiv Sainiks he said that the polls would test their loyalty. “There is only one wave in Maharashtra. We will now show the BJP what a wave means. The BJP should rule India and keep out of the affairs in the state,” Mr. Thackeray said.
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He said that he had gone out of his way to part with 18 seats from the Sena’s quota to ensure that the alliance prevails. “However, the demand of 30-35 seats from the BJP was impossible to concede. The Shiv Sena doesn’t operate a godown of assembly seats. After taking winnable Sena seats they offered us seats that we could never win,” he said.
Countering the BJP’s claim that he had walked out of the alliance because he wanted the Chief Minister’s post, Mr. Thackeray said “If we asked for more seats to bag the CM’s post, then why did the BJP want more seats. Did they want to play marbles in Mantralaya after winning the assembly elections.” he said adding that though he never aspired to become the Chief Minister, he had now accepted the challenge and would ensure that a ‘Shiv Sena Chief Minister’ would rule Maharashtra after the polls.
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Hitting out at the BJP for stabbing in the Sena’s back Mr. Thackeray claimed that the break up of the saffron alliance amounted to breaking the backbone of hindutva in the country. While appropriating the hindutva agenda, he recalled that since the days of the 1992 riots, it was the Sena that stood up for protecting Hindus regardless of their linguistic identities.
No ‘Modi wave’While avoiding a direct attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he questioned that BJP’s acclaimed ‘Modi wave.’ “I had no differences with Mr. Modi. However, their party kicked us in the back despite 25-years of dear friendship,” he said. Mr. Thackeray also pointed out to the recent by-poll results that saw the BJP receive a drubbing in many States.
Mr. Thackeray declared that the Sena would contest all but two seats across the state. “We will not contest against Pankaja Munde. We have family ties with the Munde’s and we will not let politics take over the relation,” he said.