Mumbai: Slamming the BJP in a hard-hitting speech, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today said his party will go it alone in the February civic polls in Mumbai and at other places in Maharashtra.
Thackeray’s announcement this evening ended the suspense over whether the Sena and the BJP, the ruling alliance partners, would fight the election to Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM), the country’s richest civic body, together. Seat-sharing talks between the two parties had hit a deadlock amid bickering.
Also Read: BMC elections, Bhupinder Singh Hooda plays agony aunt to miffed Congress leaders
“I will not bend in front of anybody. If somebody thinks we are lesser than them, we will displace them,” an aggressive Thackeray told a gathering of party workers in suburban Goregaon without naming the BJP. The Sena was all set to contest the polls without an alliance and he needed foot soldiers who had the “courage to launch a frontal attack, instead of indulging in back-stabbing”, Thackeray said.
“Once I have taken the decision, I do not want anybody to question it. If you promise to stand by me, I have taken the decision to go it alone in Maharashtra. I will not go to anybody with a begging bowl for alliance and will not be at anybody’s mercy. I have decided there will be no alliance for any of the coming municipal corporation or zilla parishad polls,” the Sena chief said.
Referring to the recent protests in Tamil Nadu, he said the coming polls were no less than ‘jallikattu’ where “a bull needs to be tamed” once and for all.
“When you talk of transparency, we expect a similar transparency in the state government and at the Centre,” Thackeray said in an apparent reference to the BJP’s demand of “transparency” in the functioning of the Sena-controlled MCGM.
Also Read: BMC elections, BJP hints at alliance with Shiv Sena
Thackeray also took a swipe at the BJP without naming it for inducting “goons” into the party. “I said to someone, let us also induct some goons. But then, I was told none was left. My Shiv Sainiks are ready to respond to all your allegations, but make sure you do not involve the police,” he said.
In a direct attack on the BJP-led central government, the Sena chief alleged that there was an “atmosphere of fear” in the country today as anyone who spoke against the ruling party was being branded as an anti-national.
“Those who would have been in the dust bin had the Sena supremo (the late Bal Thackeray) not stood behind them in the past, have forgotten everything now,” he said.
“What kind of negotiations was the BJP doing (for seat-sharing for the MCGM poll)? The first meeting ended without any conclusion and in the second one, they ask for 114 seats (out of 227)? Is it not an insult to us? When we are asking for our share, we are doing so on the strength of the work done by us. We do not say a word when you have the posts of prime minister, chief minister with you, nor do we demand better portfolios. But, if you try and come to my own house and dislodge me, I will not tolerate it,” Thackeray said.
Also Read: BMC elections, Fate of smaller parties hinges on Sena-BJP
The Sena chief also slammed the BJP-led state government’s recent order banning the celebration of religious festivals, pujas and pictures of deities in government offices, alleging that Sena ministers were not taken into confidence before issuing the circular.
“Where was your transparency before you took this decision? Why were Sena ministers not taken into confidence? Had they been, they would have strongly protested it,” Thackeray said.
Wondering why pictures of deities could not be hung in offices, Thackeray said he accepted secularism, but it should be applied without discrimination.
“If you have the courage, implement the Uniform Civil Code,” he said. Elections to 10 municipal corporations in the state, including Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur, would be held on February 21. Elections to 25 zilla parishads will be held in two phases, on February 16 and 21.
