Uddhav Thackeray inaugurates the renovated Shiv Sena Sakha in Mumbai on Sunday. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar)Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that unlike previous attempts to split the party, Eknath Shinde camp’s action, aided by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), was to finish off the Sena. He said it was time to demonstrate to those who parted ways that Thackerays and Shiv Sena is the strongest bond ever. He appealed to party workers to get ready to counter the money power with loyalty.
Thackeray was addressing party workers in the Kalachowki area of south Mumbai, where he inaugurated the new party office of ward number 205. Referring to the Election Commission’s notice to both Shinde camp and the Sena, Thackeray said that it was time to submit affidavits by office bearers and membership copies by workers. “This battle cannot be won by vigour alone. I don’t want flowers and bouquets on my birthday. I want you all to submit your affidavits and membership coupons. They have hired a professional agency overflowing with money. It is a battle between money and loyalty,” he said.
Appealing to the party workers, Thackeray said it was the common Sena worker who turned ordinary people into extraordinary MLAs and MP s. “But it is time now to make new ordinary Sena workers extraordinary again. They (rebels) have no idea who they have messed with,” he said, adding that the moment he left Chief Minister’s official residence Varsha and returned to personal home Matoshree, he became more powerful.
“Aaditya is travelling across the state. I will be travelling across the state from next month,” he said. Thackeray said not a single staunch Sena worker left the party to join the rebels. “Now they are traveling amid the Centre’s security, and cannot even meet the very people who elected them. What have you become? And you are telling us not to call you traitor? We are not calling you that, your actions have made you that,” he said.
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Taunting the BJP, Thackeray said that he was telling the same thing to the party in 2019. “Had they made a Sena worker the CM in 2019 as per the 50-50 formula which was agreed upon, the BJP would have got its CM at least for the last two and half years,” he said. Thackeray said that BJP was dividing saffron and Hindus through its action. “BJP’s Hindutva is for politics, but Sena’s politics is for Hindutva,” he said.
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