Mumbai: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday rejected the plea of Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis urging the Sena to follow the coalition dharma, by attacking Narayan Rane and his son and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate from Kankavli assembly constituency, Nitesh Rane. A day after Fadnavis held a rally in Kankavli welcoming Rane senior into the party fold, Thackeray held a rally in the town and remarked that whichever party Narayan Rane has joined, he (Rane) has eventually destroyed it.
Warning his electoral ally the BJP, the Sena president said that the induction of the Rane’s into the BJP fold would prove costly for his ally. In the same breath he hastened to add that the BJP-Sena alliance is firm despite the Rane’s induction in the BJP. “Let me state at the outset that I have had no fight with Chief Minister Fadnavis. He is my good friend. We have a firm alliance and will continue to do so. But I have come here to caution the BJP over Narayan Rane’s disloyal mentality.”
Speaking to a private television news channel, Fadnavis had remarked “I am following the coalition dharma. It is wrong on the part of the Shiv Sena to have given its party ticket and fielded its candidate against our candidate. The way we are behaving as per coalition principles, we expect the Shiv Sena to behave likewise.” Despite the pre-poll alliance and seat sharing with the BJP, the Sena has fielded Satish Sawant as its official candidate against BJPs official candidate Nitesh Rane in Kankavli assembly constituency.
However, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray in his speech at Kankavli remarked “I have come here for the election victory of our official candidate. The whole of Maharashtra has turned saffron. Had the Chief Minister given any other worthy candidate, then we would have come to campaign for him also. The one who is standing in front of us was kicked out by late Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray. Because Shiv Sena chief expelled him the Sena grew, then he joined the Congress and thereafter floated his own party. Now he has joined the BJP, I give my best wishes to the BJP”.
Heaping further scorn on Rane senior, he said that Rane never was loyal to Matoshri. Pointing towards Rane merging his Maharashtra Swabhiman (self-respect) party with the BJP, Thackeray took a sarcastic jibe at Rane remarking “after having done all the things he wanted to do, he is now praying before the lord for salvation. What is the use of a self-respect that can bend. For the sake of the betterment of the BJP, expel Rane. He is one person who is a known back-stabber”
Taking on the critics of his poll promise of subsidized meal at Rs 10 for the poor, the Sena president once again targeted Rane, stated that those who had food at Matoshri did not live up to it. Thackeray praised Sena Lok Sabha MP from Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg constituency Vinayak Raut and Vaibhav Kadam for breaking their (Rane’s) goondaism. These people (Rane’s) are back-stabbers and I do not want them with me and I am also telling that these people should also not be with my friend (BJP).”
Taking further dig at the Rane’s, Thackeray stated that it was the arrogance of power that did them in. “Today the word “Swabhiman” (self-respect) must have been overjoyed, because his image had been tarnished for all these years, bend your neck here and there, and they call this as their self-respect. If you do not exorcise these ghosts, they will catch hold of your necks.”
Once again voicing the Sena’s opposition to the mega oil refinery project at Nanar, the Sena chief remarked that he wanted development and prosperity, but not at the cost of anybody. “If you are going to destroy the greenery of Konkan at Nanar then I do not want such development. To maintain what is in existence and further enhance it, is what is called as development, to demolish what you have is not what is called as development.”
Calling upon the voters to make the entire coastal region of Konkan saffron in this election, Thackeray urged the people to raise the saffron flag in Kankavli constituency as well. He urged the people not to fall prey to anyones intimidation and goondaism and expressed confidence that the people of Konkan will uproot this goondaism from the soil of Konkan.
