A day after former Maharashtra chief minister Narayan Rane merged his party, Maharashtra Swabhiman Paksha with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the presence of chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray slammed Rane at a rally in Kankavli in Sindhudurg district, without naming him.
Rane’s son, Nitish is the BJP candidate from this seat which he had won on a Congress ticket in the previous assembly polls. Though the BJP and Shiv Sena have an alliance, the Sena has fielded Satish Sawant, a close aide of Narayan Rane.
“Despite the alliance, I have come here to ensure the victory of the Sena candidate. Had the BJP given a ticket to a loyal party worker, I would have come for his campaigning,” Thackeray said. “I am not here to criticise BJP. I don’t want this revengeful attitude in my party but also don’t want it in BJP. They are known for backstabbing,” he said.
Narayan Rane was expelled from Sena by Bal Thackeray — Uddhav’s father and Sena founder — for revolting against Thackeray’s authority.