In call for central support, Shiv Sena’s ‘not slave to Gods of Delhi’ barb

A day after Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took oath as the chief minister of Maharashtra, the Sena moderated its shrill pitch against the Bharatiya Janata Party and the national coalition that it leads in Delhi to seek the Centre’s continued support to Maharashtra. The Sena also described Prime Minister Narendra Modi as Thackeray’s elder brother, a descriptor that Uddhav Thackeray, 59, had used when the two parties were partners in the NDA.

But relations between the two parties soured when the Sena, after the alliance won last month’s state elections, insisted that the BJP should share the chief minister’s chair. The BJP turned down the demand and the Sena walked out of their three-decade old alliance. By then, it had sounded out the Nationalist Congress Party and the Congress and received assurances.

Yesterday, the freshly-minted alliance assumed power under Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership.

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The Saamana editorial underscored that though relations between the Sena and BJP had soured but PM Modi was the country’s prime minister and not just a political party.

“If we accept this construct, then why should the government keep any anger in their minds for those whose views do not match with ours? Delhi should respect the decision taken by the people of Maharashtra,” said an editorial in Saamana.

It said Delhi may be the capital of the country, but Maharashtra is not a slave of the “Gods of Delhi” and the son of Balasaheb Thackeray, who has lived up to this ideology is the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.

In the last five years, the Fadnavis government mounted debt of Rs 5 lakh crore in the state and left. Therefore the plan that the new chief minister has made will have to be executed fast but cautiously.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi has wished the new government and the chief minister. Our prime minister has made it clear that Maharashtra should progress at a fast pace under the leadership of Uddhav Thackeray. For that the Centre’s role will have to be positive. The Centre will have to extend a hand of support to bring Maharashtra’s farmers back from the valley of sorrow,” it said.

The Maharashtra government would require assistance from the BJP-led central government for compensation for farmers who have suffered huge losses due to unseasonal rainfall.