WILL FIGHT POLLS WITHOUT BJP, REITERATES SENA CHIEF UDDHAV
MUMBAI: The Shiv Sena will contest the upcoming elections solo, without getting into an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray reiterated on Wednesday, in the final part of his interview published in the party’s mouthpiece Saamana.
“The decision that the party will contest solo has been taken,” Thackeray said, just days after BJP national president Amit Shah asked state party leaders to prepare to contest alone in the Maharashtra Assembly elections. “If they are working towards wining 350 seats on their own, how am I at fault for working on going solo,” he asked. Last month, Shah had met Thackeray at his residence on Bandra, but the Sena chief claimed that “Shah had come to Matoshree as part of his party’s Sampark Abhiyaan”.
Thackeray, however, did not disclose what was discussed.
Saamana’s executive editor and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut, who interviewed Thackeray which was released in three parts, asked Thackeray if the Sena would contest all 288 seats in the Assembly polls.
“We will definitely contest. The decision to contest without an alliance was not mine alone,” Thackeray said. In the final part of the interview, Thackeray continued his criticism of the BJP and PM Narendra Modi. Issues that were there in 2014 have still not been resolved, he alleged, raising questions about rising unemployment and GDP growth.
He also said, “The PM, CM and ministers should stay away from election campaigns as they take oath to serve the people equally.”
Thackeray said he would soon visit Ayodhya and Varanasi. “Since nobody [in the BJP] is taking about Ram Mandir, it shows that the election is still distant.”