Mumbai: Amidst the war of words during the Lok Sabha polls, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday hit back at the BJP dubbing it a ‘Bogus Janata party,’ after the saffron party had termed his party as ‘Nakli’ Sena. Thackeray also said that “thieves” (a reference to MLAs who rebelled against him) have stolen the original Shiv Sena but he will not stay quiet until he settles the scores.
Addressing a campaign rally in Hingoli for MVA nominee Nagesh Ashtikar, who belongs to Shiv Sena (UBT), Thackeray said, “(Prime Minister Narendra) Modi says our Shiv Sena is ‘nakli’ (fake) Shiv Sena. But Modi doesn't know that BJP has become a Bogus Janata Party (BJP).”
Thackeray’s attack on the BJP came on the backdrop of recent remarks of PM Modi, who while addressing a rally in Chandrapur early this month, had called the Uddhav Thackeray-led political party ‘fake Shiv Sena.’
“INDIA alliance partner DMK is talking about finishing Sanatan and linking Sanatana Dharma to malaria and dengue. And the Congress and the fake Shiv Sena are calling the same people for rallies in Maharashtra,” the PM had said.
Later speaking in Nanded, the hometown of Rajya Sabha MP Ashok Chavan, who has switched sides from Congress to BJP, Thackeray slammed the saffron party saying it has also become a part of the multi-crore Adarsh Housing Society scam.
Chavan, a former Maharashtra chief minister, is an accused in the Adarsh Housing Society scam wherein a 31-storey posh building in south Mumbai was constructed allegedly on land owned by the Defence Ministry without getting the requisite permissions and clearances.
“The Adarsh scam case is yet to be decided by the court. Now, BJP has inducted Ashok Chavan into the party fold and made him a Rajya Sabha member. So, this way, BJP is also involved in the Adarsh scam now,” Thackeray said.
Earlier, the BJP used to target Chavan saying the families of martyrs were fooled in the Adarsh scam, but now the same party is involved in fooling them, he alleged.
The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) in 2014 sought to delete Chavan’s name from the case but this was rejected both by the special CBI court and later by the Bombay High Court in 2015. The matter is pending before the Supreme Court which in 2018 stayed proceedings in the case.
Chavan joined the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in February this year and was elected unopposed to the Rajya Sabha after being fielded by the party.
