Thackeray fears polls may be put off

In his 45-minute speech, Thackeray launched a frontal attack on AICC President Sonia Gandhi as well as Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and strongly criticised the Election Commission of India for its partial attitude towards the alliance government.

8220;Chief Minister Narayan Rane called on Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill requesting him for swapping of poll dates in Maharashtra.

Subsequently, I also personally requested Gill to change the dates in view of the 10-day Ganpati festival. However, there was absolutely no response from Gill. To our shock and surprise, Gill has conceded the request from a minority community to change the polling day, if it was Friday. I feel this is not partial attitude of the Election Commission,8221; Thackeray remarked.

Thackeray also blasted the Election Commission for asking the priests of the Vithal-Rukhmai temple at the historic Pandharpur township to remove the flags on the temple, since they were saffron. 8220;I think, it is highly improper for the commission to give such directives. In that case, I will ask the Commission to give direction for removal of green flags from the places of worships,8221; he argued.

However, State chief electoral officer, D K Sankaran, has clarified that no such order has been issued. He has also said that there are no restrictions on using religious flags during the Ganesh festival.

In his speech, Thackeray recalled the importance of August 9, which is observed as Kranti Din, and said the time had come to ask the traitors as well as infiltrators in politics to leave the seat of power. 8220;At the moment the goverment at the Centre headed by Atal Behari Vajpayee is a caretaker government. We should vow to re-elect him with a greater majority so that he is able to provide us a stable government,8221; Thackeray urged the gathering.

On Sonia, Thackeray reiterated that under no circumstances, would the Sena-BJP alliance allow her to occupy the top post as she is a foreigner. 8220;We have no personal enmity with Sonia Gandhi, but it will be highly objectionable if she is elected the Prime Minister of India. In case, the possibility of the Congress is very remote, but in the event they come to power, for India, it will be the most shameful day,8221; he said.

On the allegations against Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee for inept handling of the Kargil row, Thackeray said neither Sonia Gandhi nor Sharad Pawar has the moral right to question the government on the death of 400 jawans in Operation Vijay. 8220;The death of jawans is unfortunate, but they died for the cause of the country, but the death of 1400 jawans during the tenure of Rajiv Gandhi was unexcusable. They died for the cause of Sri Lanka, which was not our business at all,8221; he pointed out.

Thackeray blamed Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi for the on-going trouble in the valley. 8220;The Kashmir problem was created by none other than Nehru in 1947. Instead of fighting with the neighbouring country, Nehru referred the case to the UN. On the other hand, at least Vajpayee has not sought third party intervention and resolved the dispute on his own,8221; he said.

Thackeray described as baseless the reports appearing in a section of the media on the meeting between BJP leader Pramod Mahajan and Sharad Pawar. 8220;There is absolutely no substance in such reports. I am sure the alliance will remain intact even after the elections,8221; he said.

On Election Commissioner8217;s decision against him, Thackeray said it was shocking, since the decision has come on the eve of the elections, despite the fact that the dispute is more than a decade old.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan too launched a scathing attack on the Congress for projecting Sonia as the next Prime Minister. 8220;We have to choose between a towering personality like Atal Behari Vajpayee and Sonia who has never even a Sarpanch of the Grampanchayat,8221; Mahajan said.

On the proposed election manifesto of the BJP, Mahajan said it was planning to impose a ceiling on the strength of the Cabinet and also on the fixed tenure of the Lok Sabha and state legislature.

Besides Thackeray and Mahajan, the meeting was also addressed by Chief Minister Narayan Rane, his predecessor Manohar Joshi, BJP leader Suryabhan Wahadane and Cultural Affairs Minister Pramod Navalkar.