BJP-BSS can’t fight election without my father’s photo: Uddhav Thackeray

Four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the BJP’s campaign for the forthcoming civic polls in Mumbai and Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray chose the birth anniversary of his father, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, to launch his battle to retain power in Mumbai’s civic corporation

Mumbai: Four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the BJP’s campaign for the forthcoming civic polls in Mumbai and Maharashtra, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray chose the birth anniversary of his father, Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray, to launch his battle to retain power in Mumbai’s civic corporation.

Mumbai: Shivsena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) chief Uddhav Thackeray with family members and Party leaders after paying tribute to Bal Tahckeray statue on his birth anniversary, at Regal Cinema, in Mumbai, Monday, Jan. 23, 2023. (PTI Photo)(PTI01_23_2023_000380B) (PTI)

On Monday, Thackeray appeared at two events where Sena (UBT) workers and leaders had gathered in large numbers and chose the Shanmukhananda Hall venue to attack PM Modi, the face of the ruling BJP-BSS alliance. Referring to Modi’s remarks that the BMC’s money should not be lying in banks and should be used for the city, Thackeray alleged that the BJP and its central leadership had an eye on the fixed deposits of the civic body and wanted to bankrupt Mumbai.

“After shifting the International Financial Centre to Ahmedabad, BJP leaders now want to bankrupt Mumbai,” said Thackeray. “They look upon our city as a goose that lays golden eggs, and they want to kill it. The Shiv Sena (UBT) will never allow it to happen.”

Playing the Marathi card, Thackeray remarked that the Marathi manoos had earned the city by shedding blood, and his party would not allow the BJP-BSS to appropriate it. “About 30 to 40 per cent of the FDs belong to the civic staff and are used to pay out their pension, provident fund monies and gratuity,” he said. “The kitty also includes deposit money paid by contractors, over which the BMC has no right. We have used these FDs for long-term infrastructure projects like the coastal road, sewage treatment plants and the Goregaon-Mulund Link Road.”

Pointing out that Chief Minister Eknath Shinde—the leader who split the Shiv Sena—had called himself ‘Modi’s man’, Thackeray dared him to use a photo of Narendra Modi and not that of the Shiv Sena founder while contesting the elections. “Both the BJP and Shinde know that they can’t fight the election without a photo of Balasaheb Thackeray, and that’s why they put up his photo in the central hall of the state legislature,” he said. “Their intentions are not clean, and that is the reason I did not attend the function.” Thackeray had skipped the function at which Chief Minister Shinde, Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Union minister Narayan Rane were present.

Thackeray also took a dig at PM Modi, saying the latter inaugurated and laid foundations for the projects that the Shiv Sena and MVA government were working on for the last two and a half years. “They also don’t have any icons of their own and thus they try to hijack leaders like Sardar Patel and Subhash Chandra Bose from other parties,” he mocked.