Raj Thackeray a frog: Maharashtra CM

Mumbai, October 06: As far as calling names goes, campaigning for the October 13 Maharashtra Assembly elections seems to have reached a new low, with key players in state political arena calling rivals names, including those of animals.

Chief Minister Ashok Chavan called MNS chief Raj Thackeray, a ‘frog’.

“Raj Thackeray and other opponents are like frogs which appear on ground during the monsoon and start croaking,” Chavan said during a press conference in his hometown Nanded recently.

Chavan is the latest in the long line of leaders who have used colourful language to deride opponents, the most visible practitioners of this ‘art’ being estranged Thackeray cousins.

Uddhav, Shiv Sena executive president, equated Raj to a ‘contractor working on commission for the Congress-NCP combine’.

Raj responded, saying Uddhav was like “aitya bilawar nagoba” (a Marathi phrase, meaning a snake always claims a readymade home instead of toiling for it), a reference to the Sena’s leadership passed on to Uddhav by his more illustrious father Bal Thackeray.

—PTI