Mumbai, October 05: BJP General Secretary Gopinath Munde on Monday said the face-off between Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and his estranged cousin MNS chief Raj Thackeray was a fight between two political parties and not individuals.
“This is not a Thackeray versus Thackeray fight but between two political parties. One of them is our ally and the other is not with us. BJP does not stand to lose from this fight. We don’t support the MNS agenda,” Munde said at a ‘meet the press’ programme here.
When asked about the saffron alliance’s chief ministerial candidate, the deputy chief minister in the Sena-BJP government from 1995-99, said the issue will be decided by Sena Chief Bal Thackeray and BJP leader L K Advani.
“We are fighting for a change of guard in the state. We will decide on who will lead the new formation after the elections,” Munde, who made a successful debut in the Lok Sabha elections from Beed, said.
Munde said the Congress-NCP alliance was only on paper as both the parties were fighting each other in 120 Assembly seats by pitting rebels against each other’s candidates.
Though Sena-BJP also faced rebellion, but it was only in about seven constituencies, he said.
Munde alleged the Congress-NCP alliance had copied 13 points from the saffron combine’s manifesto.
—Agencies