 "Team Modi will be made to bite the dust: Uddhav Thackeray")
You have been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for playing divisive politics. However, Modi has said Maharashtra and Mumbai won’t be divided.
Modi and his ministers are campaigning in Maharashtra and are conspiring to divide the state. The Shiv Sena is committed to united Maharashtra. Modi has now clarified that no one can break Maharashtra while he’s in power. However, state BJP leaders, including Devendra Fadnavis, have been reiterating the party’s support to the demand for Vidarbha statehood. I have been appealing to voters not to succumb to Modi’s development talk, as BJP is here to divide the state.
More From This Section
Why are you equating Modi and his team of ministers with the army of Bijapur general Afzal Khan?
What I meant was Modi, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and several BJP chief ministers have come to campaign in the state. It is similar to the situation when Afzal Khan had come to defeat Chhatrapati Shivaji. But I won’t compare myself to the Maratha king. The people of Maharashtra will not tolerate such attempts. They (the Team Modi) will be made to bite the dust. BJP is making strong claim about a ‘Modi wave’ in the state. If that is the case, why does Modi hold so many rallies in the state? He could have urged Maharashtrians to vote for the party while sitting in New Delhi.
You have been alleging BJP has betrayed you.
BJP has backstabbed the late Bal Thackeray. The Shiv Sena stood by BJP for 25 years. It has not only betrayed the Sena but other allies, too. How can the Shiv Sena trust BJP? The alliance was on the issue of Hindutva. BJP is now moving away from Hindutva. Shiv Sena stands for Hindutva. During the Lok Sabha elections, we asked people to vote for Modi. It is unfortunate that he is today not asking for votes for the Shiv Sena. It is strange that before the Lok Sabha polls, BJP got close to allies but later decided it did not need them.
Despite the split in the alliance, Sena minister Anant Geete has not resigned from the Union government. When will he resign? Will you break your ties with BJP in the coming civic and local body polls, too?
The Sena will not back out from the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) unilaterally. We were at the forefront (of the campaign to bring) the BJP-led NDA to power at the Centre. Quitting the government won’t solve the matter.
BJP says had Bal Thackeray been there the alliance would have survived?
Modi says that he will not attack the Sena in his speeches as he has respect for Balasaheb Thackeray. We too respect the PM. But when you backstabbed us merely on the issue of seat sharing, where did that respect disappear then? Did you not think of Balasaheb before breaking the alliance forged on the principles of Hindutva?
Where did the respect vanish when the 25-year-old Sena-BJP alliance, a well-knit and strong partnership nurtured by Balasaheb, ended only on the issue of sharing of seats?
BJP has criticised you and Shiv Sena for sparing Congress & NCP and instead attacking it. What is your take in this regard?
It is not true. In my speech Congress and NCP are attacked for looting Maharashtra during their 15-year rule.
If there will be a fractured mandate, Nitin Gadkari has said that BJP will tie up with Sena to form the government. Does Shiv Sena strike post-poll alliance with BJP or sit in opposition or tie up with NCP?
I want to make it clear that there won't be any post-poll alliance with the BJP. Shiv Sena is contesting 286 of the total 288 seats and is quite confident of forming the government. If BJP was so keen to be with Sena, why did they break the alliance?
You and Raj Thackeray recently talked over phone and the news broke about a post-poll alliance. Will it be a reality?
I do not think such a situation will arise. Shiv Sena will form the government on its own and I do not think Raj's help will be needed.