Mumbai: Shiv Sena and Bhartiya Janta Party have finally broken the ice by snapping all ties from each other, after a prolonged cold war, with both the former allies taking jibes at the other. Launching a fierce attack on old ally BJP, Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday announced breaking of their 25-year-old alliance for the upcoming civic elections across Maharashtra.
“We shall not go around with a begging bowl. We have wasted 25 years in this alliance; but no more. Shiv Sena will contest all the civic body elections independently and will not have an alliance with them (BJP) henceforth,” thundered Thackeray at a party workers’ rally in suburban Goregaon in the evening.
The move came after a stinging speech in which he criticised the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) with which the party is in alliance in Maharashtra and the centre, and directly targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The BJP did not spare even Mahatma Gandhi and removed his pictures from the Khadi Village Industries Commission (KVIC) diaries and calendars for this year, he said, referring to the use of pictures of Modi instead.
“They (the BJP) are talking of Ram Temple in Uttar Pradesh. But now, they must be prepared for ‘He Ram’ (annihilation) there,” he said. The move to sever the alliance was greeted with cheers and a thunderous applause, and party workers chanted to Thackeray’s call for fighting the ensuing elections separately.
