Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray on Saturday lashed out at his old friend and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar, and issued an open challenge to swap all his assets with him. “I will transfer my entire property to your name. You transfer your property to mine. I give you an open challenge,” he said, responding to Mr. Pawar's allegation that the Sena was involved in corruption to the tune of Rs.40,000 crore.
He was talking at the Central Ground during a campaigning rally for the coming civic polls on February 16 here.
“If you say we have been involved in that kind of corruption, what were you doing during that time? Unlike you, we do not know of any foreign bank accounts. We are in a fix about where to keep that kind of money,” he said. He threw a similar challenge at Congress leader Narayan Rane.
Targeting the Gandhi family, Mr. Rane said Sonia Gandhi and her family were out to ruin the country's democracy. “What does Rahul do? He visits a poor person's hut, sits on the ground with the family and eats food with them. You voters do not see that the tiffin comes from a five-star hotel,” he said.
Mr. Thackeray taunted the Election Commission for asking its officials to cover Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati's poll symbol, the elephant, in the State. “Can you win or lose an election by covering the elephant? Then Congress symbol is the palm. How will you cover it?” he asked.
In a bid to woo the Dalit votes, he said the courts should ban the usage of religious texts such as the Gita, the Quran or the Bible for administering oaths. “Use Babasaheb's [Ambedkar] Constitution instead. The Shiv Sena has never discriminated against any caste or religion. We are not anti-Muslim. We have protected all those Muslims who love this country... The Dalits should work together with the Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). Now that you have come into our fold, don't leave us,” Mr. Thackeray told Republican Party of India leader Ramdas Athawale.
Mr. Thackeray accused the NCP of using rigged electronic voting machines to win the polls. He said even the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) candidates had been winning with huge margins due to such rigged machines.
MNS chief Raj Thackeray found support from his uncle on the cause of issuing grounds for political rallies. “We get Shivaji Park every year because of our tradition. But what is the use of that ground when there are decibel limitations? Tremendous curbs are being put on everything,” he said, criticising the courts for some recent decisions.
But he didn't spare Mr. Raj Thackeray on other counts. “My nephew has taken a liking for [Gujarat Chief Minister] Narendra Modi. He said that Modi did not put any hoardings of his successful work. Did he [Raj] not see the full-page advertisements that were being published everywhere?” he said.
“Why have you been taunting us? We will talk about what we have done. If you have the capability, win like a man,” he told Raj Thackeray.
Mr. Bal Thackeray said he had supported Mr. Modi at a private meeting with Lalkrishna Advani in Gujarat. “Mr. Advani had asked for my advice on [Mr] Modi when there were internal problems in the party. I said to him: ‘If you remove Modi, you will lose Gujarat.' You can ask Advani even today if I had not said that,” Mr. Thackeray said.
Mr. Bal Thackeray asked Mr. Raj Thackeray why he did not train his guns on Sharad Pawar for the Lavasa issue, or on Vilasrao Deshmukh for the misuse of his position for allotting land to film director Subhash Ghai's film institute.
Mr. Bal Thackeray refused to take the blame for potholed roads and lack of water supply in the city. “Today, the corporator has no power. The entire power is vested in the hands of the administration. The government puts pressure on it to issue contracts to companies. Why should we take the blame for someone else's mistake?” he asked.
He also took potshots at Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan, social activist Anna Hazare, film personalities like Shabana Azmi, etc.
