Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray Tuesday said his party and the BJP are bound by Hindutva and the two decided to enter into a pre-poll alliance after overcoming differences that soured their ties in the past.
In an interview to Sena MP Sanjay Raut in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’, Thackeray said he agreed to the alliance after BJP president Amit Shah came to him twice to sort out the issues.
The Sena, which has often been critical of the BJP, its leadership and policies of the NDA government, entered into a seat-sharing pact with the ruling party recently. The BJP and Sena agreed to contest 25 and 23 seats, respectively, in Maharashtra which has 48 Lok Sabha constituencies.
“…You ask me why we agreed to an alliance again. The whole world is a witness. BJP president Amit Shah came to me not once, but twice. And when the alliance was charted out, we put forth the problems of people. Even the Chief Minister was present when all this happened,” Thackeray said.
Shah wanted the sourness between both the parties to end, he said, adding he also agreed to the BJP chief’s views.
To another query, Thackeray said in the course of discussions, the issues that caused the sourness between the two saffron parties were “ironed out”.
“Like before, Hindutva is the thread that binds the BJP and the Sena together,” he asserted.
He also hit out at the opposition parties, saying if they come to power, they would “quarrel” for the Prime Minister’s post as they lack a leader to bind them together.
The opposition parties made a similar move after the Emergency – since there was immense anger among people – and formed the Janata government, which lasted for 22 months, he noted.
“Then they at least had a face in Jayaprakash Narayan. Now, there is no face to bind the opposition in the country. If the Opposition comes to power, there will be quarrelling among them for the Prime Minister’s post,” he claimed.
“We (Sena and BJP) have Hindutva as a common thread. Hindutva is nationalism,” said Thackeray, whose party is an ally of the BJP at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
To a query on BJP veteran L K Advani, Thackeray said during the last five-ten years of his father late Bal
Thackeray’s life, the younger generation took over the Sena and the patriarch guided them, but intervened and spoke only when it was necessary.
“Change is a natural process. But it doesn’t mean you forget them after making them retire. You have to be forever grateful to them. Like the Sena supremo, Atalji, Advaniji sowed the seeds in an extremely difficult environment. They risked their lives in spreading Hindutva,” he said.
Asked if he stood by his earlier statement that the Sena rotted in 25 years of alliance with the BJP, Thackeray said his father extensively travelled across Maharashtra to spread his party.
“However, we became inattentive after the alliance (with BJP). This carelessness is no more there. Spreading of one’s ideology is not a crime,” he said.
PTI
