Uddhav bats for ‘Sena CM’ Farooq demands unconditional release of all detainees in J&K

BJP leader Prakash Javadekar says the reality will be dealt with when the time comes

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The BJP on Monday said there is nothing wrong in Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray expressing a "desire" to install a Shiv Sainik as the chief minister of Maharashtra, adding that the reality will be dealt with when the time comes.

In an interview to Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna', Uddhav expressed confidence that a Shiv Sainik will assume the top post in the state and said that he made this promise to his father and Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. "I will not sit silent until I fulfill the promise given to Shiv Sena chief (Bal Thackeray). I will make his Shiv Sainik the Chief Minister. I will not leave politics until this happens," he said.

Last month too, Uddhav had recalled the promise he made to his father in an address to party workers, assuring them that a party leader will assume the top post in the state.

Responding to Uddhav's statement, Union minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar Yuva Sena President Aditya Thackeray meets people during an election campaign ahead of the upcoming Maharashtra Assembly polls, in Mumbai, Sunday

today said, "There is no issue in expressing a desire, what will be the reality we will see later."

The Sena is contesting 124 out of the total 288 constituencies in alliance with the BJP, which has nominated candidates for 150 seats. Rest of the seats will be allotted to smaller allies from the BJP'S quota.

The Sena chief 's son Aaditya Thackeray is entering electoral politics from Worli constituency in Mumbai, and the October 21 state polls are being seen as a litmus test for the party, whether it can bank on the young leader's popularity to win public mandate.

"Aaditya contesting the Assembly election does not necessarily mean I am retiring from active politics. I am very much around," he said.

"I am not going to do farming," he said sarcastically, in an apparent reference to NCP leader Ajit Pawar who recently resigned as an MLA and advised his son to prefer farming or business over politics.

He also claimed that in 2014, when the Sena and BJP snapped ties ahead of the Assembly polls, his party put a check on the 'Modi wave' which had swept the country.

"There is no point in discussing the reasons behind the BJP and Sena contesting (the 2014 polls) separately. It was a war. There was a 'wave' at the national level, but we put a check on it in Maharashtra," he said. "Despite being in power, we have always raised voice for the cause of the common man," he added. SRINAGAR: National Conference president Farooq Abdullah has demanded unconditional release of all those detained or arrested in the wake of abrogation of Article 370 for any political process to begin in the state, the party said on Monday, a day after its delegation met the leader for the first time after his detention.

An NC spokesman said the party president also told the delegation that the people of the state have voiced their disapproval over the revocation of the special status and bifurcation of the state by protesting in a peaceful manner and the party cannot ignore these sentiments. A 15-member NC delegation were on Sunday allowed to meet Farooq Abdullah and party vice president Omar Abdullah for the first time since their detention.

"It was made very clear to the visiting party delegation by the incarcerated leaders that no political process can take place until and unless certain actions are undertaken by the government of India straightaway," the spokesman said.

Block Development Council (BDC) elections in the state are scheduled for October 24 and the NC has maintained that it will be not be able to take part in the exercise if its leaders are kept in detention.

Among the demands put forth by the NC leaders is release of all political detainees, traders, civil society members that have been arrested on "false grounds", the spokesman said.

They also demanded release of all students and children that have been arrested and put under detention in various jails or police stations, he said.

The spokesman claimed that there was an attempt to downplay the situation in the state by "suggesting that only violence would be indicative of public resentment".

"People have rejected the abridgement of their rights following the unilateral abrogation of Article 370. It is indeed high time for GOI to restore the dignity of the people by undoing the steps that were taken on the 5th and 6th August," he said.

He said the NC leaders are of the firm belief that the party cannot overlook and ignore the public sentiment.