Mumbai: Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray addressing the party leaders have said that Shiv Sena has ‘wasted 25 years in alliance with Bhartiya Janta Party.’ He further stated that now Shiv Sena has decided to abandon the Bhartiya Janta Party, but it will never abandon Hindutva, for the “BJP is not synonymous with Hindutva”.
Uddhav Thackeray said he has accepted the challenge thrown by Union home minister Amit Shah that Sena should contest elections on its own and targeted BJP over its “politically-convenient” Hindutva.
Uddhav Thackeray was addressing the party leaders and workers on the occasion of Sena founder late Bal Thackeray’s birth anniversary. During his virtual address, Uddhav Thackeray said, “I reiterate that 25 years of the party were wasted in an alliance [with the BJP].”
“We are criticized over leaving Hindutva,” said the Maharashtra chief minister and Shiv Sena president. “We have left BJP, not Hindutva. BJP is not synonymous with Hindutva.”
The Sena will try to expand its footprint outside Maharashtra and aim for a national role, he added.
Claiming that Shiv Sena’s Hindutva “does not change based on convenience”, Thackeray attacked the BJP’s version of Hindutva politics, calling it opportunistic.
“I believe that the BJP’s opportunistic Hindutva is for power,” the PTI news agency quoted the Sena chief as saying. “Those who were criticizing the Emergency period are right now behind an invisible emergency in the country. And if we want to end this, the Shiv Sena is needed.”
Further, he also said that the past few months have gone in his operation and medical recovery, but soon he will start taking part actively in political campaigning.
“My physiotherapy is still on,” said Uddhav Thackeray. “Soon, I will step out and tour the state.”
Notably, the Shiv Sena fell out with Bhartiya Janta Party after the 2019 Maharashtra polls and tied up with Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government in the state.
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