Mumbai: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Monday while taking pot shots at BJP said that his party took BJP from bottom to top in Maharashtra. “We took BJP from bottom to top in Maharashtra. “BJP only uses Hindutva for power”, he added.
Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said he has accepted the challenge thrown by Union home minister Amit Shah that Sena should contest elections on its own and targetted BJP over its “politically-convenient” Hindutva.
The Sena will try to expand its footprint outside Maharashtra and aim for a national role, he added.
He said the Sena had aligned with BJP for taking forward the agenda of Hindutva through power.
“I have accepted the challenge given by Union home minister Amit Shah that Shiv Sena should contest elections on its own,” Thackeray said.
He said when BJP was growing politically, it aligned with several regional parties including Sena. At that time, BJP used to lose poll deposits in several places, he said.
“Shiv Sena had aligned with BJP as it wanted power for Hindutva. Sena never used Hindutva for the sake of power,” he said.
The Sena has left BJP and not Hindutva. I believe that BJP’s opportunistic Hindutva is only for power, he added.
Thackeray alleged that BJP forged an “opportunistic alliance” with PDP in Kashmir. “BJP even tied up with Nitish Kumar (in Bihar) who had spoken about a ‘Sangh-mukt’ (RSS free) Bharat,” he said.
“Before lecturing on Hindutva, Uddhav Thackeray should introspect whether Shiv Sena is following late Bal Thackeray’s ideology, who had said that in politics & life his party will never join Cong, and if such circumstances arise, he would prefer locking party office,” said Kadam.