'Won't let CM forget...': BJP says will send 75,000 letters to Uddhav Thackeray

Thackeray allegedly confusing the number of years since the country gained independence, during his speech on August 15, has become another flashpoint between allies-turned-rivals Shiv Sena and BJP.

The Maharashtra unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said on Wednesday it will send 75,000 letters to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray so that he doesn’t forget “how many years it has been since independence.” BJP MLA Ashish Shelar made this remark while addressing a press conference over the arrest of Union minister and BJP leader Narayan Rane by the Maharashtra Police a day ago.

“On 15th August, CM Thackeray forgot how many years it has been since independence. Under the leadership of state BJP chief Chandrakant Patil, we will write and send 75,000 letters to the CM so that he doesn’t forget the date. Will he apologise to the people?” Shelar said in Mumbai.

Rane, the Union minister for micro, small and medium enterprises, had, on Monday, targeted Thackeray for allegedly mixing up the number of years since India gained independence, while delivering the chief minister’s address on August 15 on the occasion of 75th Independence Day. “Had I been there, I would’ve given him a slap under his ears,” Rane had said of Thackeray. His remarks set off a chain of events which saw the minister being arrested on Tuesday afternoon, culminating with him being granted bail after a late-night hearing.

The BJP has accused Maharashtra transport minister Anil Parab, who is from the Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena, of being behind Rane’s arrest. “Parab is behind Rane’s arrest. We demand a CBI probe into the arrest and entire procedure of action. Why is the Maharashtra government so scared that they are behaving like this?” Shelar said.

A video is doing the rounds on social media in which Parab is purportedly instructing police officers to arrest Rane “without any warrant” and, if needed, “with force.”

Rane, 69, is a former Sena leader himself, and in 1999, was the party’s second chief minister in Maharashtra. He left the Sena in 2005, and joined the Congress. In 2017, he resigned from the Congress and joined the BJP in 2019. In July, he was inducted into the Union council of ministers.