Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said seeing the support he is getting from people, even Pakistan will tell whom the real Shiv Sena belongs to, but the Election Commission (EC) cannot do so as it is "suffering from cataract". He also said that his party and supporters would ensure that "traitors" would be politically finished, a reference to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and his supporting MLAs, whose rebellion led to the collapse of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in June 2022.
In a big blow to the Thackeray-led faction, the Election Commission earlier this year allotted the 'Shiv Sena' name and its poll symbol 'bow and arrow' to the group led by CM Shinde. Addressing a mammoth rally of his party at Pachora in Jalgaon district of north Maharashtra, Thackeray thanked his supporters for coming to the public meeting in large numbers even if he had nothing to offer after he lost the party name and symbol to the rebel group.
"Seeing the number of people present here, even Pakistan will know who the real Shiv Sena is, but not the Election Commission which is suffering from cataract," he said. He exhorted his supporters to express their anger over the rebellion by CM Shinde and 40 party legislators through the ballot boxes to ensure that they are politically finished. Thackeray said the party's "vajramuth" (iron fist) was a very important part of the MVA alliance and dared the ruling Shinde-led Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to conduct elections. He said his party's mashal (flaming torch) will set the throne of Shinde and BJP ablaze.
Those who won elections on his party's ticket betrayed him, but those who got these people elected were with him, he asserted. "We will see to it that you are finished. We have cleansed the blot on the state created due to the treachery. Maharashtra is the land of brave people and not traitors," Thackeray said, and asked the party workers if they would fight till the victory.
The former chief minister asked the BJP to clarify if it would contest the state Assembly elections next year under the leadership of Eknath Shinde. "State BJP chief Chandrashekhar Bawankule has said that Shinde's party will be allotted only 48 seats (out of the total 288).
