Sena vs Sena in Lok Sabha as Maharashtra politics resounds during no-trust motion debate

“They didn’t need infrastructure. They worked to put a stop to all infrastructure projects because they don’t leave the house. In two-and-a-half years, a new record was set by the former CM of going to the secretariat for two-and-a-half days,” Shinde said.

Hitting out at MPs of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), Shinde asked “Who did you fight elections with in 2019?” He said voters had given the mandate to the Shiv Sena and the BJP but after the elections the Sena under Thackeray’s leadership formed the government with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress.

Shinde alleged the rival Sena group had “sold out” the principles of Hindutva. He said the MVA government arrested people for wanting to recite the Hanuman Chalisa, referring to the arrest of independent MP Navneet Rana and her MLA husband Ravi Rana who last year announced that they would recite the Hanuman Chalisa outside then CM Thackeray’s residence. The MP then recited the Hanuman Chalisa in the House.

Rana, who spoke later in the House, referred to the incident and asked why the Opposition had not spoken out when she was arrested and jailed. She asked why the video of two women being paraded naked in Manipur on May 4 went viral a day before the start of the Monsoon Session. Rana asked the government to take action against those who “purposely” publicised the video. Speaking against the motion, she said the Opposition wanted to target Prime Minister Narendra Modi and was not focused on the violence in Manipur.

Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Arvind Ganpat Sawant said the no-confidence motion was not about compelling the PM to come to the House but about the violence in Manipur on which the government was silent.

Then, he proceeded to respond to Shinde, saying, “They are teaching us Hindutva. I was born into it. Hindutva mein bhagode nahi hote (there is no place for deserters in Hindutva). What do they know about Hindutva?”

Sawant said the Shinde group left the MVA but now again found itself in government with the NCP with which they had a problem. The MP said PM Modi had called the NCP a “naturally corrupt party” at a rally just days before NCP leaders joined the Shinde government as ministers.

Union MSME Minister Narayan Rane, who was earlier with the Shiv Sena, hit out at the Thackeray group. He said listening to the speeches he thought he was not in Delhi but in the Maharashtra Assembly. Referring to the Shiv Sena (UBT), he said they do not have the standing to speak of Balasaheb Thackeray.