Wasted 25 years in alliance with BJP: Uddhav Thackeray

Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said his party will try to expand its footprint outside the state and aim for a national role even as he accused the BJP of using Hindutva for its political convenienceHe also said that the National Democratic Alliance NDA led by the BJP shrank as old constituents like Akali Dal and Shiv Sena have already walked out of the blocAddressing Shiv Sena members virtually on the 96th birth anniversary of the party founder and his father Bal Thackeray Thackeray said the Sena had aligned with BJP for taking forward the agenda of Hindutva through powerShiv Sena had aligned with BJP as it wanted power for Hindutva Sena never used Hindutva for the sake of power he saidThe Sena has left the BJP and not Hindutva I believe that BJPs opportunistic Hindutva is only for power he saidThackeray also said that the 25 years the Sena spent with BJP as an ally were wastedThe Sena fell out with BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra polls and tied up with NCP and Congress to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi MVA governmentWe supported the BJP wholeheartedly to enable them to fulfill their national ambitions The understanding was they will go national while we will lead in Maharashtra But we were betrayed and attempts were made to destroy us in our home So we had to hit back Thackeray said justifying his decision to align with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party after the 2019 electionsHe alleged that BJP uses and dumps its allies as per its political convenienceResponding to BJPs jibes that Sena had abandoned Hindutva for power he said his party had left BJP and not the ideology of HindutvaBJP doesnt mean Hindutva I stand by my comment that Shiv Sena had wasted 25 years in alliance with BJP he saidReferring to recent Nagar Panchayat elections where Sena fared poorly and secured the fourth position the Maharashtra Chief Minister said leaders of Sena including himself didnt take local body polls seriously and campaign accordinglyOn the contrary our new allies Congress and NCP have built institutions at the grassroots We too have to work in that direction In the last two years we lost two Legislative Council seats held by us in the biennial elections I think we lost due to the neglect and not due to sabotage in our ranks he saidHe said this setback notwithstanding Sena should aim at consolidating its presence at the national level and resolve to capture power in DelhiThackeray asked Sena workers and leaders to focus on building institutions in the cooperative and banking sector in rural areasThere is no point talking about contesting elections independently if our hands are not strong he saidThackeray said the Sena should also expand beyond Maharashtra and aim to capture DelhiHe appealed to Shiv sainiks to work with zeal and build the party organisation at the grassroots as the party is in power in MaharashtraThackeray who recuperated after undergoing spine surgery hit out at Maharashtra BJP leaders for attacking him over his healthThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever