Published On : Tue, Jul 24th, 2018

Backed BJP to prevent it from breaking Cong, NCP: Uddhav

Advertisement

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray today claimed that had his party not supported the BJP to form the government in Maharashtra in 2014, the latter would have come to power by breaking the Opposition Congress and NCP.

In the 2nd part of his interview to his party’s newspaper, Saamna, Thackeray said sarcastically that people did not make a mistake by voting for the BJP in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, but alleged that they were “duped”.

He needled the BJP over its allegations of corruption against the UPA dispensation, on the back of which it came to power, but could not prove any charges.

“Had we not participated in the government, the BJP, like it goes on winning states through all possible means…Like it broke the Congress and Trinamool Congress in Tripura, the BJP would have broken the Congress and NCP to come to power in Maharashtra,” Thackeray said. “Instead of letting that happen, I let my people gain experience of working in the government,” he said.

Asked what did he gain from being in power for four years in Maharashtra, Thackeray, whose party is an ally of the ruling BJP in the state and at the Centre, said the Sena ministers in the government got an experience of the administrative work.

“This was in a way a rehearsal of running the government. What should be done, what should not be done. Also, how to implement schemes,” he said.

He said people of Maharashtra have experienced the governance of all parties, except the Sena. “Power will come (in hands of the Sena) when people decide so. I am sure that people have experienced all other parties till now. But, they have not experienced Sena being the only party in power. That is why I got my people to experience being in power,” he said.

In the first part of the interview yesterday, Thackeray had taken a jibe at the BJP-led government over incidents of mob lynching, saying cows were safer than women in the country. “We are a part of the government, but if something is wrong, we will definitely talk about it. We are friends of the Bharatiya Janata, not of any party,” he had said, taking a dig at Bhartiya Janata Party’s name.