MUMBAI: Even as SMSes were sent to thousands of people in Mumbai criticizing Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray and lauding his nephew and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief for playing spoilsport in the drubbing of Sena candidates at the hands of the Congress party and NCP in the recent Lok Sabha polls, a demoralized and humiliated Thackeray launched a veiled attack on Raj in the party mouthpiece “Saamana” on Tuesday, announcing that he had severed all relations with Raj and considered him now as his enemy.
“Those who are the enemy of Marathi people, are my enemy,” Thackeray said in the editorial. Thackeray accused the MNS of playing an instrumental role in diving the Marathi votes and aiding the Congress to claim a victory in Mumbai and Thane, known to be forte of the saffron party.
Without naming Raj, Thackeray compared his estranged nephew to Suryaji Pisal, a Maratha traitor who had helped Aurangazeb capture the Raigad fort in 1689, for aiding Congress by eating into Marathi votes.
He said that the “Marathi voters who supported MNS and betrayed Sena should tell what crime the party had committed that they rejected them. However, Maharashtrian voters in Mumbai and Thane humiliated me in such a manner at my old age,” wrote the ailing 84-year-old Sena chief.
In another development, the Republican Party of India (Athavale) president Ramdas Athavale announced that his party would contest the state assembly elections alone.
Two days after he suffered a humiliating defeat from Shirdi Lok Sabha seat, Athawale on Tuesday said that his party was contemplating to contest the assembly polls on its own.
He termed his defeat as the defeat of the Congress-NCP and demanded strict action against the Congressmen who were responsible for his defeat.
