Uddhav Thackeray defends ‘taint’ jibe against Devendra Fadnavis despite uproar from BJP

Addressing a gathering in Nagpur on Sunday, Uddhav Thackeray, while playing an old clip of Devendra Fadnavis's speech, said Fadnavis was a taint on his home district Nagpur as he had joined hands with the NCP, despite claiming that he would never do so.

Devendra Fadnavis, Uddhav Thackarey, Uddhav Thackarey taint comment, Devendra Fadnavis kalank comment, Indian express

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray. (File Photo)

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The Shiv Sena (UBT) has defended its president Uddhav Thackeray’s ‘taint’ remark against Devendra Fadnavis stating that there was nothing wrong in it, even though the statement has ruffled quite a few feathers in the political circles of Maharashtra and moved BJP leaders and workers to burn effigies of Thackeray as a mark of protest against his rem- ark against the Deputy Chief Minister

“Not just Devendra Fadnavis, his entire government is tainted. Devendra Fadnavis is sitting amidst leaders who are facing a probe by the Enforcement Directorate. Their taint has rubbed off on Fadnavis so he too has become tainted,” said Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut, who is also the spokesperson for Uddhav’s Sena.

Read | Uddhav’s ‘kalank’ on Nagpur remark: Fadnavis hits back, ‘he needs to see a psychiatrist’

Even Uddhav Thackeray stood by his ‘taint’ remark. “When they make allegations of corruption against an individual, are they not making a tainted one? During my speech, I used the word ‘kalank’ (taint). What is wrong with that ? You make allegations of corruption against individuals and then accommodate them in the ministry ? I never thought my use of the word ‘kalank’ would rattle them so much. One should feel ashamed of oneself while making wild allegations,” said Uddhav defending his remarks after a meeting with party leaders at Matoshree on Monday.

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Raut said there was no question of withdrawing the ‘taint’ remarks.

“Our party president has not withdrawn the remarks… The government has a taint on it and they are all tainted,” he said.

Addressing a gathering in Nagpur on Sunday, Uddhav Thackeray, while playing an old clip of Devendra Fadnavis’s speech, said Fadnavis was a taint on his home district Nagpur as he had joined hands with the NCP, despite claiming that he would never do so.

“Fadnavis said he would never align with the NCP… His no means yes… Fadnavis is a taint on Nagpur,” said the Shiv Sena (UBT) president.

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Reacting to Thackeray’s remarks, Fadnavis said he pitied his old friend’s (Thackeray) thinking and behaviour. “I think he (Uddhav) needs a psychiatrist… Because the situation has gone against him, he is speaking this way. One should not react when a person speaks in this manner. I will not comment about it,” said Fadnavis.

Even Union Minister Nitin Gadkari, who avoids speaking on state controversies, too tweeted his objection to Uddhav’s remarks. “He should speak about the development works during BJP and MVA rule…using such a language does not suit the political culture of Maharashtra,” he said. To this, Raut said,”I don’t think Gadkari is speaking for himself. He has been made to speak by his bosses.”

BJP’s Maharashtra president Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Shinde Sena leaders also reacted strongly to Uddhav’s jibe against Fadnavis. “Uddhav Thackeray himself is a tainted person. He backstabbed the BJP, he compromised with Balasaheb Thackeray’s ideology. He needs to go to a mental hospital in Nagpur,” said Bawankule.

Manoj Dattatrye More

Manoj More has been working with the Indian Express since 1992. For the first 16 years, he worked on the desk, edited stories, made pages, wrote special stories and handled The Indian Express edition. In 31 years of his career, he has regularly written stories on a range of topics, primarily on civic issues like state of roads, choked drains, garbage problems, inadequate transport facilities and the like. He has also written aggressively on local gondaism. He has primarily written civic stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad, Khadki, Maval and some parts of Pune. He has also covered stories from Kolhapur, Satara, Solapur, Sangli, Ahmednagar and Latur. He has had maximum impact stories from Pimpri-Chinchwad industrial city which he has covered extensively for the last three decades. Manoj More has written over 20,000 stories. 10,000 of which are byline stories. Most of the stories pertain to civic issues and political ones. The biggest achievement of his career is getting a nearly two kilometre road done on Pune-Mumbai highway in Khadki in 2006. He wrote stories on the state of roads since 1997. In 10 years, nearly 200 two-wheeler riders had died in accidents due to the pathetic state of the road. The local cantonment board could not get the road redone as it lacked funds. The then PMC commissioner Pravin Pardeshi took the initiative, went out of his way and made the Khadki road by spending Rs 23 crore from JNNURM Funds. In the next 10 years after the road was made by the PMC, less than 10 citizens had died, effectively saving more than 100 lives. Manoj More's campaign against tree cutting on Pune-Mumbai highway in 1999 and Pune-Nashik highway in 2004 saved 2000 trees. During Covid, over 50 doctors were asked to pay Rs 30 lakh each for getting a job with PCMC. The PCMC administration alerted Manoj More who did a story on the subject, asking then corporators how much money they demanded....The story worked as doctors got the job without paying a single paisa. Manoj More has also covered the "Latur drought" situation in 2015 when a "Latur water train" created quite a buzz in Maharashtra. He also covered the Malin tragedy where over 150 villagers had died. Manoj More is on Facebook with 4.9k followers (Manoj More), on twitter manojmore91982 ... Read More

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