The ruling tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government was trying to create “a false perception” across Maharashtra that the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) was functioning like the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) “B-team”, alleged BJP State president Chandrakant Patil on Wednesday.
Claiming that the MNS was “acting independently”, Mr. Patil further accused the MVA coalition, particularly the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena of attempting to create “a false echo” that Mr. Raj Thackeray’s regional party was acting at the BJP’s behest.
“The MVA has been trying hard to create this echo that the MNS is the BJP’s ‘B-team’. To establish this perception, one sees different NCP leaders like Jitendra Awhad, Ajit Pawar, Supriya Sule or the Shiv Sena’s Aaditya Thackeray making similar statements to this effect at different times. He is independent. He is neither the BJP’s ‘B-team’ nor anybody else’s. Tomorrow, Mr. Thackeray may well criticise us [the BJP] severely,” said the BJP State chief.
