Amit Shah Sets The Stage For The Battle For BMC, Targets Uddhav Thackeray For Betrayal

Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday (5 September) asked party leaders and workers to inflict a deeper wound on Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena on its home turf.

Shah slammed Thackeray saying he compromised on everything to become the chief minister with the support of Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The Shiv Sena has been ruling the Mumbai civic body for almost 30 years. Currently, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is run by an administrator as the five-year term of the civic body had ended and elections are awaited.

“If you hit a person at any place, it does hurt. When you hit a person on his home ground, the pain is deeper. Now it is the time to inflict a deeper wound to Sena,” Shah told a meeting of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders and select functionaries after visiting 'Lalbaug cha Raja' and other popular pandals of Lord Ganesh in Mumbai.

Shah said he was setting the target to win 150 of the 227 seats in the BMC for the Shiv Sena (Shinde faction) and BJP alliance.

"It is inevitable now that the BJP will win the civic polls under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi,” he said.

“Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is shrunk because of his deeds as he had insulted the people's mandate and drifted from the ideology. I want to reiterate that we never made any promise of sharing the chief minister's post with Uddhav Thackeray,” he said.

Coming down heavily on Thackeray and his party's decision to join hands with the NCP and Congress after the 2019 Assembly elections, Shah said:

“You sought votes in the name of PM Narendra Modi and the work done by (then CM) Devendra Fadnavis. But you got greedy and sat with Sharad Pawar. You (Sena) have spent your entire life opposing the NCP, but to become a chief minister, you compromised on everything.”

He said one can tolerate injustice in politics but not treachery.

"They (Sena) should be punished for their deeds and give up on their principles. It is now time to show them their place,” said Shah.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP had fought the BMC elections in 2017 separately despite being alliance partners in the then Fadnavis-led government.

The BJP had made giant strides by winning 82 of the total 227 seats in the BMC, just two short of Sena's 84.

(with inputs from PTI)

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