'Sena is a treacherous friend'

On eve of the winter session of the state legislature, relations between opposition parties, Shiv Sena and BJP, turned sour with the latter calling the Sena a ‘treacherous friend.’

On eve of the winter session of the state legislature, relations between opposition parties, Shiv Sena and BJP, turned sour with the latter calling the Sena a ‘treacherous friend.’ Opposition leader in the assembly Eknath Khadse flayed the Sena on Tuesday, accusing the party of helping rival candidate against his son Nikhil in the legislative council elections.

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Khadse also snubbed Sena chief Bal Thackeray over the latter’s remarks against him for visiting terrorist Ajmal Kasab in Arthur Road jail last week.

“I had not been invited by Kasab to see him. There were reports that he was being pampered in jail. There were several other issues that were discussed in the assembly. Home Minister (RR Patil) had asked me to go with him and see it for myself and that was why I visited the jail,” said Khadse.

Khadse’s son, Nikhil, lost the Jalgaon local self-government polls to an independent candidate, Manish Jain, by a slender margin. Khadse alleged that local Sena leader Suresh Jain helped Manish defeat his son.

Calling Sena a ‘treacherous friend’, Khadse warned the allies that the move would be counter-productive for Sena. “All I can say today is that there would be long-lasting effects of this incident,” said Khadse.

Sena, however, denied the allegations. “The BJP nominee lost due to rampant use of resources by his opponents,” said Sena MP Sanjay Raut, adding that Sena workers followed executive president Uddhav Thackeray’s directives to vote for Nikhil Khadse.