Sena (UBT) hits back at Amit Shah, calls BJP a hypocrite over PDP alliance

Mumbai: Shiv Sena (UBT) on Sunday took a dig at union home minister Amit Shah and questioned the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) alliance with Mehbooba Mufti-led Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2014 and also said that the saffron party is afraid of the Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The development came a day after Shah slammed Uddhav in a rally in Nanded over the chain of events post the 2019 Assembly polls, which led to the unravelling of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance. On Saturday, Shah said that Sena workers dethroned Uddhav as they were fed up with the Sena (UBT) president’s hypocrisy of joining hands with the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress. He added that Uddhav betrayed BJP for the sake of power.

Leader of opposition in legislative council Ambadas Danve on Sunday took to Twitter and questioned BJP’s alliance with PDP in December 2014. He asked whether the move was not against the ideology of Hindutva and whether it was not for the sake of power.

“BJP leaders alleged that Shiv Sena left Hindutva by joining hands with Congress-NCP. I want to ask Amit Shah how BJP served the cause of Hindutva by joining hands with PDP leader Mehbooba Mufti, Omprakash Chautala, Mayawati, Mamta Banerjee, Navin Patnayak, Chandrababu Naidu, H. D. Devegowda among others,” he tweeted.

Danve called out the saffron party to be hypocrites and added that BJP joins hands with secular parties for power and when other parties do the same thing, they are criticised.

Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP also slammed Shah on Sunday. He claimed BJP is afraid of Uddhav and it is a good thing for his party. “It is good that the BJP is afraid of Uddhav. They (BJP) ensured a split in the party and gave the name Shiv Sena and its symbol ‘Bow and Arrow’ to the traitors, but they still fear Uddhav. It means the original Shiv Sena has not gone from the minds of BJP leaders. In his speech of about 20 minutes, Shah spent about 7 minutes attacking Uddhav. That shows they are afraid of Uddhav, despite the split in the party. Uddhav remains the face of Shiv Sena and created a challenge for the BJP and hence, BJP is scared of Thackeray,” he said.

People of Maharashtra believe in Uddhav more than the BJP, Raut said, adding that it was the BJP who betrayed the Sena (UBT) chief on the issue of equal sharing of the post of CM and later splitting the party and appointing Eknath Shinde as the CM. “If BJP can make Shinde the CM, why didn’t they give the post to Shiv Sena after the 2019 elections,” questioned Raut.

Raut also hit back at Shah on his four questions to Uddhav and said Shah has not done homework properly and has been caught unawares in his own web (Chakravyuh). “Uddhav openly supported the removal of article 370 from Kashmir, our party supports reservation based on financial condition and not based on caste or religion. The Thackeray faction and party workers openly participated in the Ayodhya Ram Mandir movement. It seems Shah has been trapped in his own web,” said Raut. He added that Shah is the union home minister and instead of speaking on others, he should look into the affairs of his portfolio as there is unrest in many parts of the country, including Manipur.