Mumbai, October 11: The Uddhav vs Raj Thackeray battle has been a feature of the Maharashtra election campaign so far. And it’s been left to the big tiger himself to strike at Raj Thackeray this time.
“Whom are you teaching Marathi pride? The Shiv Sena was born for this. Then they say that we sometimes talk about Hindutva and give it up. They say that we are doing it for the Marathi votes, then tell me what are you doing this for? You have an answer?” said Bal Thackeray, Shiv Sena supremo.
The Shiv Sena supremo even took a dig at his nephew on the morcha led by Raj’s wife this year. People who bring women to lead agitations should not preach, he said.
The MNS chief, on his part, kept up the vow not to respond to his mentor’s barbs.
“I will never reply to anything that Balasaheb say. I will not reply because you want me to,” said Raj Thackeray,
Bal Thackeray appealed to Marathi people to come together and vote for the Sena-BJP combine.
“Marathi people should come together and vote for Sena-BJP candidates to ensure that the saffron alliance wins the October 13 assembly elections,” Thackeray said in a video-recorded message played at a well-attended joint rally of Sena-BJP at Shivaji Park.
Addressing the rally on the penultimate day of the campaigning in poll-bound Maharashtra, the 83-year-old leader said that the number 13, generally considered unlucky, is his lucky number.
“I got married on 13th. My grandson Aditya was born on 13th. Many other good things too have happened on the same date.
“Now, I strongly believe that on October 13th, votes would pour in for saffron alliance candidates,” he said.
Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray criticised the Congress for spiralling prices of essential commodities.
“Though they say, ‘Congress Ka haath, aam admi ke sath’, Uddhav said, the way the prices of essential commodities is going up, no one would agree that Congress is with aam aadmi.
He also said many Maharashtra ministers are involved in several cases.
–PTI