Amid the ruling Maharashtra Congress’ latest posturing that it wanted to go it alone in the 2024 State Assembly polls, Shiv Sena leader Pratap Sarnaik has shot off a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, saying that the Sena must patch up with its erstwhile alliance partner BJP.
In a letter written to Uddhav who is also the Shiv Sena president, three-time MLA from Thane Sarnaik said: “The municipal corporation elections in Mumbai, Thane and Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation are round the corner. Our alliance with the BJP may have ended, but we as the erstwhile saffron alliance leaders are maintaining good relations between us. Instead of letting the relations between us deteriorate further, it is better we come closer to other”.
we come together, it will benefit the party workers like me and the Shiv Sena in the long run. This is what I feel.. It is for you to take a proper decision in the matter,” Sarnaik said in a letter written to the Chief Minister on June 9. The June 9 letter made its way to the media on Sunday.
Alluding to the bickering within the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), Sarnaik said: “On one hand, setting aside politics, you (Uddhav Thackeray) are doing justice as the Chief Minister, while on the other, our alliance partners Congress and NCP have gone to town saying that it is because of them that you have become the chief minister. And the Congress is talking about going it alone in the 2024 State Assembly polls”.
‘Instead of weaning away leaders and workers from other political parties, the Congress and NCP are trying to break the Shiv Sena. Simultaneously, some MVA Ministers and IAS officers are cosying up to the BJP leaders at the Centre to ensure against the central investigating harassing them,” Sarnaik said.
“In certain quarters of our party level, the talk that goes around is; the works of the Congress-NCP workers get done faster at the State Government level. But, despite having our party’s Chief Minister in the state, the Shiv Sena MLAs are not able to get work done in various Government departments. The question that is being asked in the party circles is: whether the Shiv Sena broke its alliance with the BJP and formed the MVA to make the Congress- NCP stronger,” Sarnaik said.
“At a time when the Congress and NCP are trying to weaken our party by weaning away our party workers, I feel personally that it is better that we get closer to Shri Narendra Modi. If the party does that, harassment being meted out to Sena leaders like Pratap Sarnaik, Anil Parab and Ravindra Waikar will stop. This is what the Sena workers feel,” the Sena leader said.
Fifty-six-year-old Sanaik, who and his two sons are being investigated by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) in a money laundering case, said in a letter written to the chief minister on June 9: “Despite having committed any offence or anything wrong, the Central investigating agencies are harassing us. One former MP (without BJP’s Kirit Somaiya) is using the central investigating agencies to defame us. Time has come to stop this kind of harassment. We are being targeted for rhyme or reason. False allegations are being made against us. We are being falsely implicated in one case after another. All this can stop with one decision of yours,” Sarnaik said, as he indirectly appealed to the chief minister to patch up with the BJP.