The relations between the erstwhile saffron alliance partners turned more bitter on Wednesday when Maharashtra went to the State Assembly polls, with the Shiv Sena ruling out the possibility of forging a post-poll alliance with its former ally and senior BJP leader Nitin Gadkari expressing his serious displeasure over the manner in which the Sena “insulted” Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Joining an issue with the Sena over the Sena’s criticism of Modi, Gadkari said during a television programme: “Modi is an icon of the people in the country, while the countries across the world look up to him with respect. That being case, it is wrong for the Sena to insult him in a manner it is doing. The Sena’s criticism of Modi has hurt our cadres in the BJP”.
“We are not a party that lacks self-respect. It is not necessary that they (Sena) respect us, but they should not insult us. We are not standing at their door-steps with an application urging them to support us (after the polls). After all, it is for them to decide as what they want to do, But, we are pretty certain that we are not going to tolerate this kind of insults heaped on our leader,” Gadkari said.
Reacting to Gadkari’s comment, Sena president Uddhav Thackeray denied that his party had criticised the Prime Minister “let me tell you that I have not insulted the Prime Minister at any stage. Even today, I have huge respect for Narendrabhai. There was a time when we worked in tandem with the BJP for making Narendrabhai the Prime Minister. Our regret is that they wanted us with them when they needed us, but they now feel that they no longer need us. That’s why the BJP snapped its ties with the Sena,” Uddhav said, while media persons after casting his vote in the polls.
In a separate interaction with the media, Sena’s youth wing president Aditya Thackeray ruled out the possibility of the Sena entering into a post-poll arrangement with the BJP. “If the Sena were to have a post-poll alliance, why was there a split in the alliance between us in the first placeIJ Ours was an alliance based on Hindutva and development cause that had stood test of time. This alliance had been sewed up by late Balasaheb together with Atalji, Adavaniji Mundekaka and Pramod Mahajan. There used to be fights between us, but the two parties had never snapped the ties between them. This is for the first time that the BJP has snapped the ties with Sena. It irks us as to why did the BJP snap ties with the SenaIJ” Aditya said.
Expressing confidence that the Sena would come to power in Maharashtra on its own strength, Aditya said: “You can see for yourself that there is Sena wave all over the place. I am confident that the Sena will form the next government in Maharashtra”.
Replying to a question, Aditya said that Sena president Uddhav Thackeray would be the Chief Minister in the event of his party forming the Government. “There is no doubt that Uddhavji will be the next Chief Minister. Even the people have made up their mind on his choice as the next CM. As the BJP had Modiji as the PM candidate in the lok Sabha, our CM candidate is Uddhavji. The people in Maharashtra also realise that voting for the BJP is like supporting its five to six chief ministerial candidates. The BJP has neither face nor vision, whereas we have both the face and vision. We have already produced our vision document to the people. Our party’s face in Uddhavji. He is a person who is calm, composed and has a lot of patience. He is both aggressive and progressive. He is a cultured person who will take Maharashtra forward,” Aditya said.
Earlier, in an apparent effort to influence the floating voters hours before Maharashtra went to polls on Wednesday morning, Uddhav had announced that was ready to take up the Chief Minister’s post in the event of his party coming to power in the State.
In the first interview published in his party’s official mouth-piece “Saamana” after the BJP snapped its alliance with the Sena on September 24, Uddhav said: “Yes. I will not run away from the responsibility. The verdict of people is supreme. When a common man can become the Prime Minister, if people decide why a Thackeray become the Chief Minister”.
Through his statement Uddhav was referring to the manner in which a common man like Modi became the country’s Prime Minister.
Not mincing words that he was extremely unhappy over the manner in which the BJP its 25-year-old alliance with the Sena, Uddhav said:”For reasons best known to it, the BJP snapped its ties with the Sena. May be that it wants to divide Maharashtra. The BJP might have thought that since it had already its Government at the centre, it wanted to have its own government in the state so that it could easily split Maharashtra on the basis of its sheer majority”.
Alluding to BJP national president Amit Shah’s statement made reportedly at an election rally comparing the Shiv Sena to a rat, Uddhav said: “This is a battle for self-respect. People of Maharashtra will not rest till they stamp out such people who ridicule Maharashtra by comparing it to a rat. We shall win in this electoral battle”.
Shah, while addressing an election rally at Sillod in Aurangabad, had come down heavily on the Sena by saying: “We made a tiger out of a rat and that tiger is now trying to scare us. But we need to show these rats there right place”.
Maintaining that the Sena would not like to be slave of the BJP, Uddhav said: “let me tell you that the Sena was not founded that it would work as a slave to someone. We wanted to remain as your friend. But, we would not be interested in continuing with you as a slave. As a friend, we are prepared to do anything for you. But, we will not function as your salve merely for the sake of power”.
If anything, it has become amply clear from Wednesday’s developments that the Sena would not join the BJP-led government in Maharashtra in Maharashtra.