The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday took a dig at its junior ally Shiv Sena for challenging it to ‘strike off’ their alliance ahead of the crucial Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls.
The BJP’s reaction comes a day after Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray took potshots at CM Devendra Fadnavis, asking him to decide a specific leader in the BJP. He had also dared the BJP to contest the upcoming polls separately if it had the courage.
“They (the Sena) should not talk about surgical strikes. For doing that, you need a 56-inch chest. It was only PM Narendra Modi who could get the surgical strike done because it is only he who has a 56-inch chest. You (the Sena) are not capable of it,” BJP Mumbai unit chief Ashish Shelar told reporters here yesterday.
Shelar further said that the BJP will continue its campaign against the "mafia raj" prevalent in the Sena-ruled MCGM and that the intensity of the party's agitation against corruption there will only increase henceforth.
"They (the Sena) have started it but we will end it. We will respond in a manner in which they understand. We will not go back in our fight against corruption," Shelar said.
Meanwhile, Sena spokesperson Neelam Gorhe, while reacting to Shelar's comments said the BJP leader should not forget the pending Lokayukta inquiry against him.
"Uddhav ji has complemented Prime Minister (Narendra) Modi over the surgical strike and thus there was no reason for Ashish Shelar to speak about the issue. He seems to be forgetting there is a Lokayukta inquiry pending against him and he has been called thrice by the police for questioning and hasn't got a clean chit as yet," Gorhe said.
She said along with Shelar, former minister Eknath Khadse, Women and Child Development minister Pankaja Munde and Education Minister Vinod Tawde are "under scrutiny for alleged corruption".
