Newly appointed Shiv Sena Nete (leader) Bhaskar Jadhav on Sunday led a blistering attack against BJP, which is sharing power with the Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led camp, saying that BJP may foment communal riots between Hindus and Muslims in Maharashtra in the run-up to the elections to the BMC and other urban and rural local body elections. He urged the Muslim community not to react or get provoked.
Jadhav, who has launched a statewide tour to argue Uddhav Thackeray led Shiv Sena’s case especially after the formation of Shinde-Fadnavis government following a rebellion by Eknath Shinde, said, ‘’If you look at the political situation of the entire country, you will notice that in the states where the BJP came to power, there have been communal riots before the elections." Communal riots took place or they were engineered. This is history,’’ he alleged.
“All options to finish Shiv Sena have been exhausted. As a last resort, communal riots may be attempted in the state, as has been done in the past two and a half years. Because they (BJP) want to win BMC elections. They have failed to realize that if they want to win the BMC elections, they have no option but to create communal riots in the state,’’ claimed Jadhav who was elected to the state assembly from Guhaghar assembly seat in the 2019 elections.
Jadhav’s accusations against BJP are serious especially when the saffron party with a new ally the Shinde camp has announced that they will win 20 plus seats in BMC and BJP will have its mayor in India’s richest civic body.
However, Jadhav said that the Thackeray-led Shiv Sena will win BMC elections as the Mumbaikars are not happy with the manner in which the Shinde Fadnavis government was formed after treachery by 40 legislators.
"Uddhav Thackeray's very gentle and decent leadership has impressed the people of all castes and religions in the state. The Muslim community has also hailed Uddhav Thackeray’s leadership which BJP is unable to digest,’’ said Jadhav. He further noted, ‘’BJP broke Shiv Sena but only 40 MLAs joined hands with them. However, four lakh people have supported Shiv Sena after that in each region. This is experienced by people in Maharashtra today. Therefore, BJP can go to any extreme.’’
(To receive our E-paper on whatsapp daily, please click here. To receive it on Telegram, please click here. We permit sharing of the paper's PDF on WhatsApp and other social media platforms.)
