Sena chief has now put ball in BJP's court indicating that Shiv Sena's tiger is back to roar. Sanjay Jog reports
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Wednesday asked all the institutions in the city with the name Bombay as prefix to change it to Mumbai, failing which the party would target them.
The letter was delivered to Dr Singh by a Shiv Sena delegation headed by Sena's Executive President Udhav Thackeray at the prime minister's South block office.
Munde's defiant attitude not to visit Delhi on Tuesday had given rise to the speculation that he may join hands with the Shiv Sena as he had met Bal Thackeray before leaving for Delhi. He also met another powerful leader Chhagan Bhujbal. "I am confident that we should be able to sort out the issue by the end of the day," Venkaiah Naidu told newsmen before leaving for Advani's residence.
'Raj will have to do a lot more to win over the public and overcome the trust deficit. It is a lot of work and needs political patience, which can come with maturity and understanding. All of these seem to be lacking in the man.'
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday signalled his formal withdrawal from active role in the party that he founded and built over four decades.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray's response has been sought by the Lok Sabha secretariat in the wake of a breach of privilege notice against him following an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana targeting some MPs from Bihar. The response of Thackeray as also Sanjay Raut, Rajya Sabha member, who is the executive editor of the newspaper, has been sought.
Latching on to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's remark that the threat of COVID-19 still persists, Raut said in view of the health concern, it is Thackeray's responsibility to take care of people's safety, and the governor should have rather appreciated the chief minister for doing so diligently.
Terming north-Indians as the life-line of Mumbai, Union Minister Ram Vilas Paswan on Thursday said that anti-people forces like the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena and the Shiv Sena were trying to divide the nation."Maharashtra has 57 per cent of north Indians who are toiling for the progress of the state and nation. MNS and Bal Thackeray would face a severe repercussion of their drive, to separate people, on the basis of region or language," said Paswan.
After its decision to back Patil evoked allegations of betrayal from BJP, the Sena has gone on the offensive, saying 'nobody need teach us Hindutva'.
Thackeray also attacked BJP, accusing it of "bargaining" for Shekhawat by making him contest as an independent and for "mud-slinging" on Pratibha over the cooperative bank issue.
After MNS Chief Raj Thackeray's attack on Jaya Bachchan over her alleged anti-Marathi remarks, Shiv Sena has now targeted Bollywood 'badshah' Shah Rukh Khan for his Delhi origin. "Shah Rukh says he is a Dilliwala. If you are from Delhi, then why have you come to Maharashtra," Sena Chief Bal Thackeray said in an editorial in party mouthpiece Saamana on Tuesday.
After five decades of existence, the Shiv Sena's support base seems to be shifting towards the rural electorate but there it has to contend with the network of Sharad Pawar and the BJP.
With NCP president Sharad Pawar's meeting with Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray triggering speculation about a possible realignment of forces in Maharashtra, the BJP has that said the event will not disturb its existing alliance with the Sena nor would the tie-up expand to include a third party.
Thackeray ridiculed the speculation of a political overtone to their nearly two-hour long one-on-one conversation. "We are polls apart when it comes to ideological convictions," he asserted. "Sharadbabu is my friend for the last four decades. He came to inquire about my health. We had a hearty talk which had nothing to do with politics," Thackeray said in Tuesday's editorial of the Sena mouthpiece Saamna.
The Shiv Sena on Monday said that the 'much speculated' meeting between the party supremo Bal Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar in Mumbai on Sunday was not held to discuss any 'future strategy'.
A sessions court has acquitted four persons, including a Shiv Sena member, in an attack case on the India Today office in South Mumbai two years ago.
The motion was sent to the centre and Maharashtra government with a request that they should initiate stern action against elements encouraging divisive tendencies.
Maharashtra BJP chief spokesperson Keshav Upadhye said there was no political angle to the meeting. "Raut wanted to interview Fadnavis for (the Sena mouthpiece) Saamana and this meeting was to discuss how to go about it," he tweeted.
Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray described how Bhujbal, once like a canon in Shiv Sena, was reduced to a water-pistol in the NCP
Close on the heels of the Sena's success in the civic polls in Mumbai, Thackeray was ordered to be present in court on March 28 by Metropolitan Magistrate M B Date, who had earlier issued summons to him on three occasions.
NCP activist Munna Tripathi moved the court against Thackeray last July in connection with the article, based on a speech by the Sena chief, saying it was "provocative" and meant to cause communal disharmony.
"I am a lover of good sports and music. It is the secret of my cheerfulness. I have a special affinity towards cricket. But till now only cricket was played in the field. However, now things are changing with the bringing of cheerleaders to seduce the crowd," the Sena chief said in an editorial in the party mouthpiece Saamna. when cricketers like Polly Umrigar, Dilip Sardesai used to play in the cricket field, the whole stadium used to be cheerful, he said.
First look on Bal Thackeray at a BMC election rally.
Thackeray was included in the list of villains along with Mahatma Gandhi's assassin Nathuram Godse.
The meeting will take place at Hotel Renaissance, where the BJP is holding its three-day national executive.
Shiv Sainiks had attacked the Mumbai office of Zee TV on Wednesday.
"We will not support Kalam. He has lost place in my heart," Sena supremo Bal Thackeray said.
The BJP has said it is in the alliance's interest that it contests the Chimur seat.
Thackeray's remarks that only the Sena pattern -- and not Modi -- will work in Maharashtra, is being viewed as a reminder to top state BJP leaders who want to replicate the 'Modi effect' in the state. Sena is the senior partner in the over two-decade old saffron alliance, which has seen a lot of turbulence after the killing of Pramod Mahajan, the main architect of the alliance.
Baring his heart on the feud which split the Shiv Sena, its founder Bal Thackeray has said that he can "fight with outsiders, but not with those within the family".
In an interview to Samana newspaper, Thackeray said politicians have taken the sheen out of the country's highest civilian award by recommending names of people who do not deserve it.
"Preparations for Thackeray's birthday on January 23 and the party's mega convention in Shegaon on January 12 are going on in full swing and party cadres are in an upbeat mood. Some people don't like to see Shiv Sainiks in an upbeat mood," Gorhe said.
Discussions are on at Matoshree, Thackeray's residence in Mumbai.
He added that all efforts would be made to nab the culprits.
Some Shiv Sena veterans say, "The Sena is eroding on its own, we don't have to quit this party. It breaks our heart to see the end, but it is inevitable." Neeta Kolhatkar on the crisis confronting the Shiv Sena.
Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray has said that Sena Executive President Uddhav Thackeray and his cousin Raj would "jointly take decisions" on important matters.
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