Breaking his studied silence after days, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday, a conspiracy had been hatched to malign, defame and discredit Maharashtra. This declaration came after he has faced criticism from a host of quarters -- actor Kangana Ranaut, Republic TV Editor Arnab Goswami and the opposing BJP. '' Whatever political storms come, I am ready to face them. I will fight coronavirus too," he said, in his 38-minute web address. "Some people feel now that we are slowly putting coronavirus behind us, they should start their politicking again. However, I would not like to talk about politics at the moment. But this does not mean I have no answers,’’ he asserted.
Thackeray, who had last held a web dialogue on June 2, before Cyclone Nisarga hit the state, said, ‘‘Efforts are being made to discredit Maharashtra. I will talk about this another time. Over the last few days, we have done a lot of work on the coronavirus pandemic. We will fight the political crisis too," he noted. “My silence doesn’t imply that I don’t have solutions,” he added.
Thackeray did not name anybody but he dropped sufficient hints that he was ready to face any political crisis. His statement comes days after Kangana likening Mumbai to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir and the controversy after the BMC demolished her office for alleged illegal internal alterations. Further, he has been targeted by Republic TV over the Sushant Singh Rajput death case and the arrest of its staffers and a driver who had allegedly trespassed into his farmhouse in Raigad.
Thackeray and his party in particular, and the Maha Vikas Aghadi Government, also found themselves under attack for the attack on a retired Navy officer,Madan Sharma, allegedly, by Shiv Sainiks. However, he did not make any statement in this regard, especially after Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh warned that attacks on retired ex-Servicemen would not be tolerated.
Further, Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athavale had demanded the imposition of President’s Rule in the state, while the ex-Navy officer Madan Sharma demanded Thackeray's resignation if he could not maintain law and order, after the six attackers were released on bail.
