In their bid to reach out to voters in the country’s commercial capital and elsewhere in the State, the two feuding Shiv Senas – led by late Bal Thackeray’s son Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Eknath Shinde respectively – flexed their muscles and traded charges in leading grounds of Mumbai on the occasion of Dussehra on Saturday night.
While Uddhav Thackeray’s lieutenant MP Sanjay Raut claimed that the Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray would reassume office as the chief minister in the next two months, Eknath Shinde asked the rival Sena leadership not to take him easily because he had already the ruled the state as the chief minister and the ruling MahaYuti – comprising the BJP, Shiv Sena and NCP (Ajit Pawar) would return to power in the State Assembly polls.
“I have not been sitting quietly, but have been ruling the state for the past two years. Don’t take me easily. I am a real Shiv Sainik. I will not run away from the battlefield. Nor will I give up the ideology of late Sena chief Balsaheb Thackeray. That’s why we are taking forward the legacy of the late Sena chief,” Shinde said.
Listing the achievements of his government, Shinde said: “Wherever I go, people welcome me with a smile. Ours is the favourite government of the people. Because of the financial assistance scheme we have introduce for them, daughters, brothers and farmers across the state love our government”
Hitting back at Shinde and his party, Uddhav Thackeray slammed the MahaYuti for* its proximity to industrialist Gautam Adani, Uddhav told the chief minister: “ You have said Hindutva is breath and Marathi is our life... but you have forgotten two more things.. Adani is our Jaan and we are lap dogs of our Shetji. I do not want to say more and insult a dog. We have Ratan Tata’s love for dogs. Even I love dogs. But I am not a blind lover”.
“The battle that we are fighting is Mahabharat. We are pandavas. You know who is Shakuni Mama .. it is the BJP.. You have people, central agencies and the government with you.. I dare you if can, go ahead and finish the Thackeray Sena. Our Sena is an army of tigers. All of them are sitting in front of me.
“We are following in the footsteps of the late Bal Thackeray.. We explode whenever injustice is done to people. We have been taught how to fight injustice. That’s why we threw out your government. Had we not come to power, Maharashtra would have lagged behind by several years in terms of development,” Shinde said.
This is the third consecutive year in the 58-year-long history of Shiv Sena, when the two rival Sena factions are holding independent Dussehra rallies.
While Uddhav Thackeray’s Dussehra rally was held at the historic Shivaji Park at Dadar in north-central Mumbai where the Shiv Sena headed by late Bal Thackeray way back in 1966, Shinde addressed his Dussehra rally at the Axsf Maidan in south Mumbai. There were large crowds in both the rallies.
Shinde had held his earlier two rallies at the MMRDA ground at the Bandra-Kurla Complex (BKC) which is located in the neighbourhood of Thackerays’ residence “Matoshri” at Bandra.
