By IANS,
Mumbai: Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray Thursday targeted Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar at a joint rally of three major opposition parties here.
Training his guns at Gandhi, Thackeray demanded to know why Gandhi has kept quiet on the nocturnal police action against Baba Ramdev and his followers last week at the Ramlila Maidan in New Delhi where the yoga guru was fasting against corruption.
“Rahul Gandhi feels ashamed when farmers are beaten up in Uttar Pradesh, but he keeps mum on the action against Baba Ramdev,” Thackeray said.
Targeting Pawar for his recent comments wanting to know what Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray had done for the people of Maharashtra, Thackeray countered by asking what the Nationalist Congress Party’s leader’s contribution to the state was.
“Balasaheb (Bal Thackeray) saved Mumbai during 1992-93, this is his contribution,” Thackeray declared, referring to the bloody riots that had engulfed the city and the retaliatory serial bomb blasts on March 12, 1993 in the wake of the demolition of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya on Dec 6, 1992.
Speaking on behalf of the Bharatiya Janata Party, state general secretary Vinod Tawade also attacked Pawar for his anti-Thackeray statements.
“We were stopped by Balasaheb Thackeray, otherwise, we would have taught that ruffian a proper lesson,” Tawade said amidst applause.
Republican Party of India (RPI) president Ramdas Athawale said that his party had joined hands with the saffron combine of Shiv Sena-BJP “to take revenge” on the Congress-NCP for their unfulfilled promises to the Dalits.
“We shall give a fitting reply to the Congress-NCP during next year’s civic elections and the Shiv Shakti-Bhim Shakti combine will come to power after the state assembly elections in 2014,” Athawale said.
Earlier in the afternoon, thousands of Shiv Sena, BJP and RPI activists braved heavy rains to converge at the historic Azad Maidan for the ‘Chale Jao’ (Get Out or Quit Office) joint rally against the ruling Democratic Front Government in the state.
The rally was aimed at highlighting issues like corruption, inflation and atrocities on Dalits and demanding that the government quit office for its failure on these counts.
The rally was attended by Leader of Opposition in assembly Eknath Khadse, former Lok Sabha Speaker Manohar Joshi, Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut and other senior leaders from the three parties.
BJP’s Deputy Leader in Lok Sabha Gopinath Munde stayed away from today’s rally – the fourth in a row – ostensibly due to his differences with party chief Nitin Gadkari.