Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: Is it the BJP’s culture to campaign for leaders like Abdul Sattar who made objectionable remarks against NCP(SP) MP Surpiya Sule, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said in a swipe at Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday.
The PM had campaigned here on Thursday. Sillod is part of the district. State minister Sattar is the sitting MLA from the seat.
“I want to ask the PM if this if the culture of BJP to campaign for such persons. Sattar used objectionable remarks against Sule on camera. The BJP also campaigned for Prajwal Revanna in Karnataka,” Thackeray said while seeking votes for his party candidate Suresh Bankar, who is up against Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena’s Sattar.
Revanna of the JD(S) was arrested on May 31 this year after he was accused of sexually abusing several persons.
Thackeray said people must get together to “wash off this blot (referring to Sattar) from Sillod”.
“He and his kin have grabbed land in Soygaon and Sillod. He has also tried to usurp government plots. The poll office here is on land he possesses illegally. We will probe all this if we come to power,” Thackeray alleged.
In another swipe at the BJP, Thackeray claimed Muslim women wearing black clothes were not allowed to attend Modi’s rally in Mumbai.
Thackeray’s Shiv Sena (UBT) is part of the Maha Vikas Aghadi along with the Congress and Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP). It is up against the Mahayuti comprising the BJP, Shinde’s Shiv Sena and Ajit Pawar’s NCP.
Addressing a rally later in Nashik, Thackeray said a medical device park that would have given jobs to at least one lakh people in Maharashtra was shifted to Gujarat, adding that the BJP takes everything to the neighbouring state and then comes asking for votes here.
“To vote for them is an act of treachery. This is not a struggle for my survival but that of Maharashtra. I will fight for my state till my last breath,” he said.
He slammed PM Modi for the latter’s statement at a rally that the Shiv Sena (UBT) had given its “remote control” to the Congress.
“I will not allow the Congress to do so (control his party) even if they are our ally. The BJP only wants to loot Maharashtra. Asking questions on onions, soybean, unemployment is not allowed under BJP rule. During the Lok Sabha polls, a farmer who asked the PM to speak on onions was made to leave the rally,” he said.
Warning that there could be clashes on polling day, Thackeray said the BJP must not frighten the Shiv Sena (UBT) with “EVMs, CBI and ED”.
“I challenge the BJP to come and fight one-on-one. We will accept the people’s mandate. If they will tell us to sit at home, we will do so. If they give a mandate against you, you will have to sit at home,” he asserted.
Maharashtra assembly polls will be held on November 20, while results will be announced on November 23.
