‘Another campaign…’: Shiv Sena (UBT) welcomes PM Modi to Mumbai with a sneer

The editorial in Sena's mouthpiece Saamana makes several remarks over PM Modi's Mumbai visit. It claims his visit another “campaign for his party”.

The Uddhav Thackeray sect of Shiv Sena, sneeringly, welcomes Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to Mumbai. Party's mouthpiece ‘Saamana’ said that PM Modi's visit to the city is another “campaign for his party” and that the narrative of laying the foundation of Mumbai's bright future is “false”. It further pointed out that the city will be blessed if no attempts are made to “loot” the Marathi's labour.

Shiv Sena (UBT) welcomes PM Modi to Mumbai with a sneer.(AFP/Representational)

"Modi is visiting Mumbai for a few hours and it is being said that in these few hours, he will lay the foundation for the bright future of Mumbai. But the question is since when did the BJP start worrying about Mumbai's future and fortune? This propaganda that the Prime Minister is incarnating for the bright future of Mumbai is false. He is campaigning for his party, but can the saffron of the Shiv Sena be removed from Mumbai?" news agency ANI quoted the editorial.

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The editorial further hit out at the Shinde faction of Shiv Sena and said the Bharatiya Janata Party has “swallowed” it as “a crocodile does with a frog”. It also pointed out how cut-outs of BJP leaders are visibly larger than Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.

Development projects that PM Modi is set to inaugurate today were already done by Sena at the municipal corporation level, the party claimed. "Most of the development works of which the Prime Minister is going to perform Bhumi Pujan, inauguration, etc. in Mumbai, were given the go ahead when Shiv Sena was in power in the Municipal Corporation. The Bharatiya Janata Party may try to take credit for this work, but the public knows everything," it said.

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PM Modi is set to inaugurate a slew of projects including flagging of Lines 2A and 7 of the Mumbai Metro. He will also launch the MUMBAI 1 mobile app to facilitate smooth travel. He will lay the foundation stone of seven sewage treatment plants.

(With ANI inputs)