Hindu cause is ours

SURAT, May 2: Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena leader and son of party supremo Bal Thackeray, said on Sunday that though the Bharatiya Janata ...

SURAT, May 2: Uddhav Thackeray, Shiv Sena leader and son of party supremo Bal Thackeray, said on Sunday that though the Bharatiya Janata Party might be having its own compulsions, his party did not have any and would aggressively take up the Hindu cause in the next general elections.

Addressing the first ever state-level convention of Shiv Sena office-bearers in Gujarat at the Surat Indoor Stadium, Thackeray claimed, 8220;We don8217;t treat the BJP as our enemy. Our alliance is doing well in Maharashtra.8221;

Former Chief Minister of Maharashtra Manohar Joshi was more forthright. Without naming the BJP, he said, 8220;They talk of a national agenda of governance. Only we can pursue the cause of Hindutva.8221;

Expressing surprise at the BJP8217;s inability to rename Ahmedabad as Karnavati, Joshi said, 8220;When Balasaheb wanted Bombay8217; to be changed to Mumbai, it was done without any problems.8221; He urged Shiv Sainiks to take up an agitation for the renaming of Ahmedabad.

8220;If there is any state where the Shiv Sena can come to power after Maharashtra, it is Gujarat8221;, he said. Sena Rajya Sabha MP Satish Pradhan went a step further to state, 8220;The Sena will gift two seats from Gujarat to Balasaheb Thackeray. Of course, we will contest many seats.8221;

Thackeray said, 8220;Had Sardar Patel been alive, Ram Mandir and Kashmir would not have becomes issues in the first place.8221;

Criticising the Congress for describing the Sena cadres as fundamentalists, he said though its president Sonia Gandhi had had time to visit the Dangs and change the Orissa chief minister after Australian missionary Graham Staines8217; death, she had never spared a thought for the killings of Hindus in Kashmir.

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8220;We are not against Muslims and Christians, we are against traitors,8221; he said, adding, 8220;we want Abdul Hamids a youth who died in a battle against Pakistan and not Dawood Ibrahims 8221; to thunderous applause from workers drawn from all parts of Gujarat. 8220;We don8217;t need imported prime ministers. Can8217;t the Congress project one from within their ranks?8221;

Pradhan said the Sena would support the Narmada project, which is the lifeline of Gujarat. Later, Joshi urged Shiv Sainiks to take up issues that mattered directly to the masses and give up national issues, if need be.