Srikrishna report — Thackeray wags his finger at Congress

“This is not an empty threat. I really mean it. If the new government decides to implement the report, which has already been rejected by the previous government, it will have to face the consequences. Though we were in power for four and half years, we never played politics of revenge. I hope better sense will prevail and the new chief minister will take decisions judiciously,” Thackeray thundered.

The Srikrishna Commission report, which was tabled in both the Houses of the state legislature in March last year, passed stricturesagainst Thackeray, former Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and a section of senior Sena leaders. It was quickly killed by the Sena-BJP government which accepted only innocuous parts of the reports such as riot-policing.

Thackeray recalled an incident to prove that he was not one to make empty threats and that once he takes a decision, he was not used to backtracking like other politicians.

During the emergency, he related, there was a message from Rajani Patel that within hours, all the top leaders of the Shiv Sena will be behind the bars since they were against the Indira Gandhi government. “I specifically told the messenger, Shantilal Mehta, that if the decision is implemented, by the time he reaches Patel’s residence, he will have to witness Patel’s funeral,” boasted Thackeray with complete lack of taste. (Subsequently, no Sena man was arrested.)

In his 45-minute speech, the Sena chief declared that the saffron alliance was all set to come back to power in a couple of months; expelled industrialist andRajya Sabha member Mukesh Patel and also announced drastic changes in the Sena organisation.

Thackeray said he had a specific information that Mukesh Patel along with a senior Shiv Sena leader had drafted a strategy to ensure that the Sena-BJP government does not come to power at any cost. “I will not tolerate such traitors in the party. I am expelling them from the organisation with immediate effect. I will declare also the list of traitors in a couple of days,” Thackeray added.

On the failure of the Sena-BJP alliance to retain power, Thackeray said they shortly missed the bus. “While our performance in the entire Konkan region was excellent, we failed to improve our position in the metropolis. Apparently, the entire Muslim as well as Christian communities voted in favour of the Congress,” Thackeray added.

Thackeray reiterated that under no circumstances will his party align with either Congress or the Nationalist Congress Party headed by Sharad Pawar. “All my life, I have been campaigning againstPawar. Just for power, I will not join hands with such politicians,” he remarked.Thackeray asked Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee to amend the Representation of People’s Act to completely prohibit defection. “I feel that there should be complete ban on defection. If any elected representative defects, he should resign from the original party and recontest the elections,” he added.The highlight of the rally was the presence of senior BJP leader and former Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde. Munde not only was on the dais, but also assured the audience that the Sena-BJP alliance was intact.Munde’s presence has significant political importance, since the BJP feared that Thackeray would blast the BJP too for hobnobbing with NCP.