‘Declare July 27 Traitor Day’: BJP MLA Nitesh Rane hits back after Sanjay Raut’s quip

उद्या गद्दार दिन आहे. गद्दारीला एक वर्ष होईल. आपला पक्ष चोरला. आपला चिन्ह चोरले. माझे वडीलही चोरायला निघाले होते. जनतेच्या मनातील शिवसेना तुम्ही चोरू शकत नाही. तुम्ही जी मेहनत घेतली, ती वाया जाणार नाही. महाराष्ट्रात शिवसेनेचा भगवा फडकल्याशिवाय राहणार नाही !! pic.twitter.com/joPgADVLk0

— Uddhav Thackeray (@uddhavthackeray) June 19, 2023

On Monday, Thackeray, in his speech on the Shiv Sena’s Foundation Day, said that June 20 was ‘Traitors Day’ as it was on that day that Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had launched a rebellion that led to a split in the Shiv Sena.

“Pls declare 27 July as “TRAITOR DAY”. One of the biggest traitor ever seen or experienced was born on this day,” Nitesh said in his tweet on Tuesday, tagging the United Nations and UN Secretary-General António Guterres, among others. Without naming Uddhav, Nitesh said the ‘traitor’ “back stabbed his own father”, “his own religion”, “a close friend like the BJP” and the “Marathi Manus”.

Nitesh Rane is the younger son of Union minister Narayan Rane.

Sources in BJP said that it was the Shiv Sena (UBT) that started attacking the BJP first. “The BJP believes that Shinde, along with 40 rebels and 10 independents, walked out as they did not want to associate with Congress and NCP. They did not want to compromise on ideology,” a source said.

For the first time since its inception in 1966, two events were held in Mumbai on Monday to mark the Shiv Sena’s foundation day where both Uddhav and Shinde took potshots at each other.