E-Paper
‘BRS’ is ‘B team’ of BJP, coming to divide anti-BJP votes in state, says Uddhav
For the last few months, the BRS has been trying to increase its presence in Marathwada, which shares a border with Telangana.
MUMBAI: Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday hit out at ‘Bharat Rashtra Samithi’ (BRS) chief and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao, calling him an ‘outsider’ and his organisation the ‘B team’ of the BJP which had come to Maharashtra to divide anti-BJP votes. The Shiv Sena (UBT) president Thackeray also recalled warnings by former governor Satyapal Malik and TMC MP Mahua Maitra that communal riots could be engineered after the Ram Mandir inauguration in order to win the Lok Sabha elections.
Thackeray was speaking at the ‘Nirdhar rally’ in Hingoli as part of his Marathwada tour, which had been postponed in July.
For the last few months, the BRS has been trying to increase its presence in Marathwada, which shares a border with Telangana. In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Thackeray’s party had won three seats in the region.
“Nowadays, outsiders are coming to Maharashtra and mainly in this region,” said Thackeray. “They claim they will bring in a farmers’ government in Maharashtra but all farmers in the state know how the MVA government helped them during their crisis. The government in Telangana is in danger and KCR is coming here to divide the votes. I want to tell him: If you are really against the BJP, join the INDIA alliance, otherwise join hands with the BJP openly.”
The Sena (UBT) chief trained his guns on Narendra Modi for his “double-standard politics” and conspiracies to win elections. “BJP leader and former governor Satyapal Malik openly said that the Pulwama attack was planned to win the Lok Sabha elections in 2019,” he said. “Now Malik and MP Mahua Maitra have warned that communal riots may be engineered after the Ram Mandir inauguration with the same aim.”
Taking a dig at PM Modi for his consistent ‘vikas’ (development) lines, Thackeray said, “When an election is approaching, he speaks the language of ‘Sab ka saath, sab ka vikas’. Once it is over, the reality is ‘Sab ko laath aur doston ka vikas (a kick to everyone and development of friends)’. Thackeray also jibed that Modi might well give an assurance in the elections that he would give a home on the moon to all Indians.
Thackeray also criticised the PM for ordering BJP leaders to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with Muslim women next week. “If I had suggested this, the BJP would have termed me anti-Hindu,” he said. “But if they do it, everything is fine. I dare them to celebrate Raksha Bandhan with Bilkis Bano of Gujarat.”
The Sena (UBT) chief also criticised Devendra Fadnavis for going on tours to Japan when Marathwada was facing a drought-like situation. “He said that he visited Japan to get investments in Maharashtra,” he said. “It would be good if that happened. But Fadnavis should go to Gujarat first to bring back the projects that were taken away from Maharashtra.”
