Mumbai: Reacting to Union Minister Amit Shah’s speech in Maharashtra’s Nanded, Shiv Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut on Sunday said that in Shah's 20-minute speech, seven minutes he spoke only on Uddhav Thackeray, which means that Matoshree's dominance is still intact.
He further claimed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is "scared" of his party chief Uddhav Thackeray and said it was a good thing.
‘It is good the BJP is scared…’
In a social media post, Raut said, "It is good the BJP is scared of Uddhav Thackeray. It ensured a split in the party (Shiv Sena), gave name and its symbol to traitors; still the fear of Uddhav Thackeray and Shiv Sena (original) has not gone."
“In Shah’s 20-minute speech in Nanded, 7 minutes he spoke only about Thackeray, which means that Matoshree’s dominance is still intact. Shiv Sena party was broken, and names and symbols were given to traitors. Even after this, fear of Thackeray and Shiv Sena is visible, this fear is good,” he said.
‘BJP caught in its own web’
Raut further wondered whether Shah’s rally at Nanded was part of BJP's Maha Sampark Abhiyan or an occasion to criticise Thackeray. The Shiv Sena (UBT) leader said the BJP must introspect about the questions posed to Thackeray. “The BJP is caught in its own web,” Raut claimed.
Leader of Opposition in the Legislative Council Ambadas Danve said the BJP keeps criticising the Shiv Sena (UBT) for breaking the alliance and forsaking Hindutva by joining hands with the NCP and Congress. In a tweet, Danve said, "I am curious about what kind of Hindutva BJP achieved when it joined hands with Farooq Abdulla, Mebooba Mufti, Nitish Kumar, Mayawati, Om Prakash Chautala among others.”
Alleging the BJP was trying to lure some leaders into forging an alliance before the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, Danve said the BJP's Hindutva remains intact when it gets together with these secular parties. But the Shiv Sena (UBT) gets criticised for doing the same, Danve claimed.
'Betrayal for the sake of power'
The comments came a day after Shah in a rally in Nanded tore into Thackeray over the chain of events post the 2019 Assembly polls which led to the unravelling of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. Shah called Thackeray's joining hands with the Nationalist Congress Party and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government as betrayal for the sake of power.
(With agencies input)
