PUNE/MUMBAI: Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) supremo Raj Thackeray was the focus of fresh attacks from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Congress party leaders as the campaign for the Maharashtra state assembly elections heated up.
The BJP came out in support of its ally Shiv Sena alleging that Raj was helping the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party alliance once again by splitting the crucial Marathi vote bank.
Speaking at a late night election rally in Pune on Thursday, the BJP national vice president and former Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde, in his first personal comment, backed the Shiv Sena allegations against Raj and ridiculed the MNS supremo in his speech. Munde said that he (Raj) was not a “superman” but a “supariman” (a man who takes contract) and was more an agent of the Congress-NCP alliance by acting on their behalf.
Munde’s fresh attack that toed the Shiv Sena line is likely to make the election campaign more personal, with fresh verbal barbs being thrown by rival parties in the run up to the elections. The BJP had so far refrained from personal criticism of Raj and had let Shiv Sena take the lead in the battle for the ‘Marathi’ vote. Both the Sena and the MNS are competing for this large vote bank by raking the issue of “Marathi person.”
When asked if he agreed with the Sena labeling Raj a “supariman”, Munde said, “That is true. MNS divided the Marathi people votes and helped the Congress-NCP alliance in the last Lok Sabha election. This time too, the Congress in banking on the MNS. But people will not vote for MNS in the election as they have realized that a vote for MNS is a vote for Congress. Those who had voted for MNS are repenting now.”
Munde also claimed that the BJP-Sena saffron alliance was all set to gain power in the state. Referring to the Miraj riots, Munde accused the Congress-NCP ruling alliance of religious appeasement.
Meanwhile in Mumbai, the Congress too trained its guns on Raj. Federal Minister for Heavy Industries Vilasrao Deshmukh warned the MNS chief not to go about airing views that MNS will finish off the Congress Party. “What Shiv Sena has not been able to do in 40 years, the newly born MNS should not even think. He (Raj) should desist from speaking about finishing the Congress in few days. How can those, who are engaged in family dispute, contribute to the development of the state,” Deshmukh asked, referring indirectly to the quarrel between the two cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj.
Speaking to the media on Friday, Deshmukh said, “The Congress is a formidable and strong party. No one should speak of finishing the Congress. The Sena, the MNS nor the BJP could elect a single Member of Parliament from Mumbai in the recent Lok Sabha polls. And now they are talking of hoisting the saffron flag atop the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly,” he added.
Deshmukh said he was confident that the Congress-NCP alliance would get the majority once again to stay in power for three consecutive terms. He also assured the non-Marathi speaking people in the state of no harassment if the Congress-led alliance is brought back to power. He said, “Those who reside in Mumbai are Mumbaikars (resident of Mumbai) irrespective from which state they have migrated. It is the duty and responsibility of the state government to protect them and the love professed for the “Marathi person” by both the Sena and the MNS is pure drama.”
