Uddhav dares Shinde-led faction to battle assembly elections without Shiv Sena name and symbols

Mumbai: Coming down heavily on the Eknath Shinde-led faction for claiming a better strike rate in the recently ended Lok Sabha elections than his UBT Sena, Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday dared the Shinde-led Sena to battle out the coming assembly election without the name 'Shiv Sena', its bow and arrow symbol, and pictures of Balasaheb. He also dared Modi to come to Maharashtra for the next campaign.
"They cannot inherit the legacy of my father Balasaheb as people have shown them in the elections who the true inheritors are," he said amid thunderous applause from the supporters. There are rumors being deliberately spread that Thackeray will join NDA but how can we go back to those people who have placed a dagger in our back and tried to finish us, he asked.
Recently, while talking to media over the allegations of EVM-hack through OTP in the case of Ravindra Waikar's victory, Shinde had said the allegations by the opposition were to mislead people and out of sheer frustration as our Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) had not only gained 2 lakh votes more in Mumbai and Maharashtra respectively than the UBT Sena but had also scored a better strike rate of 48% than their 42% (winning more seats against those battled out).
Shinde had also claimed that out of 19.50% votes gained by his Shiv Sena, 14.50% were for the bow-arrow symbol alone and was a clear indication that the traditional Sena voter had shifted to his faction. "We dare you to fight the coming elections on our symbols and see who wins," Thackeray said in his challenge to Shinde while addressing thousands of supporters at the Sena's 58th foundation day rally held at Shanmukhananda hall.
Stating that his party will never leave Hindutva, which was more a comprehensive ideology than that of the BJP, Thackeray, while addressing workers at the foundation anniversary celebrations, said it was because the BJP tried to damage the democratic framework of this country and its constitution, his party stood firmly against the NDA and showed them their real face. "I credit the people of Maharashtra and Mumbai for this victory," he said.
"Don't teach us what the real Hindutva is. Our Hindutva is more progressive and courageous, always ready to take on terrorists upfront and not that of tuft and sacred thread," he added. "It is the BJP that has dumped the real Hindutva by aligning with Nitish Kumar and Chandrababu Naidu for the sake of power," he said, pointing out that Nitish had once announced to make the country free from Sanghis while Naidu had called Modi a terrorist. He asserted that in the coming elections, the India front will assume power. Thackeray said it was because of Modi's ego the NDA has lost elections.
"This mindhe (meaning blindly surrendered in Marathi, thus pointing fingers at Shinde) sarkar had tried to label our save-democracy campaign as Urban Naxal. However, people showed them who the real Naxals are who tried to finish democracy in the country. If you have the courage to fight elections against us, then use the photo of your father and not my father and then show me the strike rate," Thackeray said.
Thackeray said had the Lok Sabha elections been conducted in 10 phases, he would have ensured that the NDA lost all its seats by holding more rallies across the state. "Our real Shiv Sainik spread over Maharashtra has lit up our Mashaal (torch) symbol in such a way that they have actually put their asses on fire," he said. He made a mockery of Minister Sundhir Mungantiwar for going to London to get Chhatrapati Shivaji's tiger claws, saying that people themselves had pulled his nails in the elections in Chandrapur.
He said his party's saffron flag will remain as it is and will never bear any symbol or torch and compared the purity of its color with that of the saffron red of the original flames of the party's election symbol (torch or mashaal). "Now the party has sent two new in-charge, Bhupendra Yadav and Ashwini Vaishnav, who were the poor performers in the Modi cabinet," he said, terming Vaishnav the 'apaghaat' (accident) minister whose tenure saw railway mishaps. "Now Maharashtra will see more accidents," he said.
He appealed to party workers to ensure the victory of all party candidates in the coming state legislative council elections being held for graduates and teachers' constituencies. While Mumbai, Konkan, and Nashik elections are slated for June 26, the elections for the other 11 MLC seats will take place in the first half of July. "In the coming assembly elections, ensure that you pull down the government of those who call UBT Sena, NCP, and Congress an unnatural alliance," he appealed.
He strongly criticized BJP chief O P Nadda for his comment that only the BJP would remain in the state's politics. "Now you can see who has remained. It is because of overconfidence and ego that people have shown BJP and Modi that they can be defeated," he said, making a mockery of the slogan 'iss baar charso paar'. He also took potshots at MNS leader Raj Thackeray for his 'binshirt' (unconditional) support to BJP.