By Our Special Correspondent
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday launched the BJP's much-awaited campaign to teach Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray a lesson in the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections in October.
Shah, who has been in Mumbai since Sunday, met Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde today before leaving for the darshan of Lalbaghcha Raja in Parel. Shah then visited BJP Mumbai unit president Ashish Shelar Ganesh Mandal and addressed the party workers there.
Reminding BJP workers that Uddhav had cheated us in 2019, Shah said, “You can tolerate anything but not betray. And those who betrayed us must be punished and taught a lesson. Taking his attack on the Shiv Sena further, Shah said that the party broke its alliance with the BJP for just two seats in the 2014 assembly elections.
“We never thought of ourselves as elder brother and younger brother. Shiv Sena betrayed by backstabbing. They defeat our nominees by fielding independent candidates or supporting rival candidates. The Shiv Sena and the BJP have jointly sought votes in 2019 on the name of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the work of former CM Devendra Fadnavis. But later they left us and formed the government with Congress and NCP," said Shah.
Reacting to Shah’s attack, former Shiv Sena mayor Kishori Pednekar said that the entire world knows who cheated. “We have set out target ‘mission 150’ in the BMC elections. Our local party branches are working round the clock to serve people,” she said.
Calling on the people to show Uddhav Thackeray his place in the BMC polls, Shah exhorted them to put the BJP in a dominant position in Mumbai. On his part, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that while the BJP should fight the elections as though it was for the last time, “this time, the real Shiv Sena of Eknath Shinde is with us.
In the Ganesh festival, the BJP is everywhere. The Shiv Sena is nowhere to be seen. Actually, the Shiv Sena used to dominate the Ganesh festival”.
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