A stern and unexpected ‘advice’ to Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray published in an RSS-inspired daily paper Tarun Bharat , dared him to quit the Maharashtra government on Saturday.
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Tarun Bharat is the same company which got into trouble on Friday for being provided funding by the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP).
In the editorial, the paper criticised Thackeray for his comments in his marathon three-part annual interview to the party’s mouthpiece, Saamana, ahead of his birthday on 27 July.
Challenging Thackeray’s refrain that “it was the BJP which wanted us (Shiv Sena) to join the Maharashtra government,” the edit pointed out that on the contrary it was the Sena which was feeling left out of power, both at the Centre and in Maharashtra.
It said that people realised how miserable the Sena legislators felt sitting in the opposition until New Delhi urged the state to include them in the cabinet.
The editorial further blames the “squabbling” over seat-sharing for the lack of a strong alliance government in Maharashtra. Despite the lack of a strong alliance, the editorial reads, the Fadnavis government survived the vote of confidence in the assembly.
It recalled how the Sena had dubbed Prime Minister Narendra Modi as ‘Afzal Khan’ during the assembly campaign.
The editorial pointed out Sena’s comments saying “even Modi’s father” could not have won the Lok Sabha elections decisively without its support.
(With agency inputs)
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