A day after BJP’s national president Amit Shah met him at his residence in a bid to resolve the differences between the two saffron alliance partners, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday hinted indirectly that there was no change in his party’s earlier stand that it would go it alone in the 2019 lok Sabha polls.
Hitting out at the Sena’s senior ally BJP for using “Saam, Daam, Dand and Bhed” (all means and methods), Uddhav said: “I don’t accept the Sena’s defeat in Palghar lok Sabha-poll sportingly. In fact, I do not accept our defeat at all”.
Addressing the Sena workers at Palghar where he visited for the first time after his party’s defeat at the hands of the BJP, Uddhav said: “They said that EVMs malfunctioned because of summer heat. That being the case, why was counting of votes done at allIJ. Names of voters were missing, there was large-scale bogus voting and EVMs were not functioning. Can we call this democracy”.
“Picture abhi baaki hain... What we are witnessing now is just a drama, Our candidate Shrinivas Wanga cut into the BJP’s traditional vote bank in a big way. Shrinivas will be the hero of 2019 lok Sabha poll in Palghar,”the Sena president said. “In a way, the BJP has not succeeded by for using “Saam, Daam, Dand and Bhed” (all means and methods) in the Palghar by-poll. In fact, it is BJP’s defeat –inflicted by the tribal youths in Palghar constituency. After our efforts lasting for just 15 days, we polled 2.5 lakh votes in the by-election. We should ensure that our candidate Shrivas Wanga wins from this constituency in the 2019 lok Sabha poll,” Uddhav said.
Uddhav said that the Sena would make bullet train project and the Mumbai-Vadodara expressway as among issues for the 2019 lok Sabha polls in Palghar constituency.
Uddhav’s caustic remarks against the BJP should be3 seen in the context of Shah’s two-long meeting with the former on Wednesday night. Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had accompanied Shah for the talks with the Sena President.
Uddhav’s son and Sena youth wing president Aditya Thackeray was also present at the talks.
After Wendesday’s meeting, there was no official word from either the BJP or the Shiv Sena.
The talks were held in the backdrop of acute strained relations between them, bitter electoral battle between them in the recent Palghar lok Sabha by-poll and the Sena’s reiteration that it would contest all the future elections on its own strength. It may be recalled that the BJP managed to win the Palghar seat by a margin of 29,572 votes. While BJP's nominee Rajendra Gavit secured 2,72,782 votes, Shiv Sena's Shrinivas Wanaga polled 2,43,210 votes. Baliram Jadhav, the Bahujan Vikas Aghadi candidate was at the third place with 2,22,838 votes.