Mumbai : The RSS has criticised the state BJP for snapping the 25-year-old partnership with it last week, the Shiv Sena said in its party mouthpiece Tuesday.
In a front-page revelation in ‘Saamana’, the Shiv Sena has said that three days after the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) broke the alliance, a secret meeting was held in south Mumbai.
That evening Sep 28, the BJP leaders sought the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) guidance on how to approach the electorate under the changed political scenario in Maharashtra where all the five major parties are now contesting independently.
“Did you consult us before breaking the alliance? Why is BJP running away form Hindutva? Or did you break it because of your selfish interests… This has created divisions among Hindus…,” the Sena quoted RSS leaders as saying at the closed-door meeting.
“You are only bothered about your chair… With what face are you going to approach the electorate and seek votes?” the RSS leaders hit out, the ‘Saamana’ said quoting sources present at the meeting.
Another RSS leader made it clear to the BJP leaders not to “indulge in such strange experiments – The Shiv Sena is not a Nitish Kumar party, they are our true friends”, they said.
Pulling up BJP leaders, the RSS seniors said they appeared least concerned about “serious issues like love jihad, land jihad, cow slaughter and (religious) conversions”.
It also castigated the BJP over the move to admit several deserters from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) to the party fold and even allotted them tickets for the forthcoming elections.
“(NCP president) Sharad Pawar has divided the Marathis and sabotaged Hindutva forces… Your decision to reward his men election tickets has weakened Hindutva,” they said.
Among the BJP representatives present included Union Minister Ananth Kumar and state party leader Ravindra Bhusari.
This is the second expose the Sena has carried out in couple of days, causing major embarrassment to the BJP – barely a fortnight before the Oct 15 state assembly elections.
On Monday, it revealed how the BJP had tried to short-change the Republican Party of India (A)’s Ramdas Athawale, a former member of the six-party saffron Grand Alliance which collapsed last week.
After the break-up, the BJP went separate with the four other smaller partners, including RPI(A), while the Sena is wending its independent path.
Now, the Sena has also decided to quit the central government by withdrawing its sole MP Anant Geete who will resign after Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s return from US this week.