People were voting against the BJP wherever there was a strong Opposition party, and the BJP might resort to communal polarisation in the coming days to recover its lost ground, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray said. In his first media interview after a recent Supreme Court verdict which held that the Maharashtra Governor’s direction for a floor test of his government in June 2022 was illegal, the former Chief Minister said “people were shocked that an illegal government” was in power now. Mr. Thackeray resigned before the floor test, and a breakaway group of the Shiv Sena and the BJP formed a government under Eknath Shinde, who succeeded him as CM.
In a no-holds-barred conversation at his residence ‘Matoshree’, Mr. Thackeray accused his former ally, the BJP, of being dictatorial, and opportunistic on questions of Hindutva. He said slavery was the same, regardless of who the master was — “the British or the BJP.” He, however, evaded a direct answer when asked whether he could partner with the BJP again. “The BJP should be asked this question. Why did they push me away?” he said. In response to another question he said: “There was no need for me to go with the Congress, but they [the BJP] pushed me.”
Strongly defending his current alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) as part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance, the Sena leader said more regional parties were rallying together to unseat the BJP from power. Mr. Thackeray said he would ensure that seat sharing would be a smooth affair in Maharashtra.
