MUMBAI, Jan 1: In what seems to have now becoome his trademark flip-flop-flip, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray today changed his stance once again vis-a-vis his party constitution and threw out a challenge to the Election Commission to do its worst with regard to his life-term leadership of his party. Launching the Sena-BJP's election rally from the Chowpatty Sands here this evening, Thackeray thundered, ``I will never stand down as party president. The EC is perpetrating an injustice on us. It has no right to lay down the law with regard to internal party structures. It can only judge issues strictly related to polls.''Thackeray accused the EC of thinking up the laws as it bumbled along and said he was prepared to challenge its diktat in the courts. ``The only reason I gave in to their diktat now was because I did not wish to put my partymen who are in government and other official bodies in trouble due to their threat of derecognition. And I accepted their diktat under pressure. But I will never bow to them, ever,'' Thackeray said.His speech marked the nadir of all social etiquette as he used unsavoury sexual terminology to describe relations between Congress president Sitaram Kesri and Sonia Gandhi.He had even worse than his usual diatribe against Sharad Pawar in store for the former Chief Minister: he threatened, not just metaphorically, to have Pawar stripped of all his vestments by the end of the election campaign.BJP president L K Advani who earlier addressed the gathering expressed his unhappiness at the long drawn out election schedule announced by the EC in New Delhi today.He called for a reduction in the four phases and said the gap between the first vote cast and the last one counted should be reduced to make it easier for all political parties to manage their campaigns.Advani's criticism of Sonia Gandhi, however, was low key, stating only that she could not hope to deliver 300 seats to the Congress on a supposed sympathy wave seven years after her husband's assassination.BJP general secretary Pramod Mahajan spoke in a similar vein and said that Sonia, the Italian daughter-in-law of Mrs Indira Gandhi, could not be counted as heir to her legacy. ``Dynasties are carried forward by people born in the family, not those who marry into it,'' he said.Among others who spoke were Maharashtra Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, who along with others reiterated their conviction that the BJP would gain government with Mr Atal Behari Vajopayee as Prime Minister.R D Tyagi joins SenaBal Thackeray today sprang a surprise at the launch of the Sena-BJP election campaign by announcing the entry into the Sena of former Mumbai police Commissioner R D Tyagi. Tyagi was present on the dias and was introduced to the gathering by Thackeray along with two other new entrants from the Congress. Tyagi, however, is likely to be rewarded with a Lok Sabha seat by Thackeray who is said to be considering fielding him from Mumbai North Central.Tyagi was said to have been appointed to the job of Mumbai police chief against the wishes of Home Minister Munde under pressure from Thackeray soon after the Sena-BJP government came to power. However, Munde's will prevailed at the end of his term and Tyagi was not given an extension by the government. He was deputed to the central cadre national security guards and retired from the services a year after taking up the new assignment.
