Tearing into Uddhav, Shah asks BJP cadre to ‘show Sena its place’, sounds BMC poll bugle

Exhorting the party to adopt an aggressive strategy against the Uddhav Sena, Shah set for the state BJP an ambitious target of 150 plus seats in the elections to the 227-member BMC.

This was the first time after the BJP along with the rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde toppled the Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government over two months ago that Shah went after Uddhav and his party.

From his tone and tenor it was evident that Shah singled out the Uddhav Sena as the saffron party’s principal target and that dislodging the three-decade Sena rule in the BMC would be its “Mission Mumbai”.

Referring to former CM Uddhav, Shah said, “Shiv Sena has stabbed BJP in the back. Anything can be tolerated and forgiven but not betrayal.” The party workers should take to streets and work hard and should not rest till the Sena is punished, he said.

Mounting a bitter assault on Uddhav, Shah blamed him for the “predicament” of the Sena. “If Shiv Sena has been reduced to a smaller party, Uddhav Thackeray alone is responsible,” he charged. “You all know how Uddhav had betrayed BJP. Yet, BJP had always shown a lot of patience to take them along.”

Shah also denied the Sena’s oft-repeated claims that in the run up to the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly elections the BJP had agreed to an “equal power-sharing arrangement” between the two allies.

“I had never given any promise to Uddhav Thackeray in our one-on-one meeting. To the contrary, our stand from the beginning was that Fadnavis’ CM post in 2019 polls will not be compromised,” Shah said. He added that he was recalling the past to apprise the party workers of “facts and give them the right perspective”.

Explaining the importance of the Mumbai civic body polls, the Union minister said the BJP should have an edge in the polls, claiming that the parties indulging in anti-Hindutva politics would be defeated.

While proclaiming Shinde as the BJP’s new alliance partner, Shah said, “Shinde Sena is the real Sena. They have upheld the commitment to Hindutva.”

Earlier, in the day Shah visited Lalbaugcha Raja at Lower Parel along with his family members. He visited Bandra West Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav Mandal, which is located in the BJP’s Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar’s Assembly constituency. It was followed by a visit to CM Shinde and Fadnavis’ houses for Ganesh darshan. Shah also inaugurated a school at Powai in Mumbai.

The Uddhav Sena was swift in its reaction to Shah’s remarks, saying that it is also prepared to “show the BJP its place”.

“Who is betraying whom is visible to all from Delhi to Mumbai. It is visible who is fleeing with whose people (MLAs) and people of Mumbai do not want anything from you (BJP). Besides that, we are already on the ground from the beginning, and we will soon show BJP their place,” the Sena leader and ex-Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednekar said.

The Sena’s South Mumbai MP Arvind Sawant said that the BJP should remember the “favours done by Shiv Sena to them” and should remember that it was the Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray who had supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi when the BJP leaders itself were against him. “Had Balasaheb Thackeray not supported Modi ji then we would not have got Modi ji as PM. So the party should remember all this and the time will tell who will show whom its place,” Sawant said.

Speaking to reporters, Sena leader and Uddhav’s son Aaditya Thackeray said, “I don’t want to say anything on it (Shah’s remarks). But the real conspiracy or betrayal which was planned (by BJP) is in front of everyone. Instead of asking me about Shah’s statements, people should ask those 40 traitors (rebel Sena MLAs) what they have to say.”

Sena MLC Manisha Kayande said: “Shah is Union home minister but has spoken a language as if any ordinary BJP worker is speaking.The way he has issued these threats is not appropriate for him, that that too when he came to Mumbai for Ganesh darshan. It has been the history of BJP that without polarising the society based on religion they can never win the elections. Sometimes it is Ram and now it is Ganpati.”

Kayande also hit out at Shah for declaring that the Shinde Sena was the “real Shiv Sena”. “The matter is pending before the court and he is making such statements. This was really an irresponsible statement made by the Union home minister,” she charged.