Thackeray exhorts Sena men to defeat Congress in civic polls

Shiv Sena patriarch Bal Thackeray on Thursday exhorted partymen to defeat the Congress in the upcoming elections to the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation and assured that he would lead the the outfit to victory.

In the same breath, the 85-year-old leader, who practically launched his campaign for next year’s polls to the civic body, warned that he would “take a revolver and open fire” if that was required to stop any move to split Mumbai from Maharashtra.

At the customary Dusshera rally at the sprawling Shivaji Park, Thackeray attacked “Islamic fundamentalists” who were indulged in anti-national activities, but said his 1966-founded party was not against Muslims per se.

He launched a broadside against the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre for its “dillydallying” over the execution of Afzal Guru, accused in the 2003 Parliament attack. He also wondered why the government was spending a “huge amount” on Ajmal Kasab, the Pakistani terrorist jailed after the 2008 Mumbai terror attack.

“Is Afzal Guru the son-in-law of the Congress? Why he has not been executed till now?” Thackeray questioned. “Why has the government spent more than Rs 40 crore on Kasab? How did the National Conference-led government in Jammu & Kashmir think about taking up a discussion against Kasab’s execution? Had I been the country’s prime minister, I would have simply dissolved the Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on this issue.”

Thackeray came down heavily against the Union cabinet. “Nobody can make out what Prime Minister Manmohan Singh speaks.

Similarly, we have a mumbling defence minister called A K Antony — at a time when Pakistan has already deployed its army to lead attack against India.”. Further, it was “quite difficult” to understand what Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan speaks, he added.

The Sena supremo declared that his party would oppose the Maharashtra government’s move to reclaim a part of the Arabian Sea to adds land to the metropolis which is gasping for space. “We will not allow this to happen and support the fishing community,” he added.

Further, Thackeray attacked the Congress led government for neglecting the textile mill workers who were displaced following a strike and the subsequent sale of mill lands. “The Sena is committed to protect the interest of mill workers. We will compel the government to meet our demands.”

On the Sena-BJP combine’s new friend, the Republican Party of India (Athavale), Thackeray said the “Shiv Shakti and Bhim Shakti” would together contest the civic polls to “defeat” the Congress-NCP. He also scoffed at reports of a “growing distance” between the Sena-BJP alliance and RPI(Athavale), and assured that a combined rally of the three parties would take place during the campaigning for the civic elections.