Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on Friday launched a scathing attack on Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over reports of his party members joining the rival Shiv Sena faction. Uddhav also backed Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of irregularities in the recent Maharashtra Assembly elections.
“If you (Eknath Shinde and BJP) are ‘Mard ki Aulad’ (sons of real men), keep aside the Enforcement Directorate (ED), Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), Income Tax, and the police, and come and fight with us. We will show you which is the real Shiv Sena. If you try to break us now, we will break your head,” Uddhav declared at a party event, as quoted by news agency ANI.
Mumbai: Uddhav Thackeray Reacts to Reports of Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs Leaving, saying “Today, news is circulating that 6-7 Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs are planning to leave. If you have the courage, go ahead and break my party. But I challenge you—do it without using government agencies,… pic.twitter.com/wQGvtExos5
— IANS (@ians_india) February 7, 2025
“Today, news is circulating that 6-7 Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs are planning to leave. If you have the courage, go ahead and break my party. But I challenge you—do it without using government agencies, without involving the police, ED, or CBI. If you truly have the guts, try to break even a single member of my party without fear tactics. But if you rely on the ED, CBI, and Income Tax to intimidate people, what kind of courage is that?” news agency IANS quoted him as saying.
The remarks came after Shinde said that around 80 Sena UBT workers joined his faction. He stated, “Many office bearers of Uddhav Thackeray’s Shiv Sena from Bhiwandi, Kalyan, and Thane districts have joined Shiv Sena today. People have faith in Shiv Sena… We will make sure that those who sit at home remain at home. When they lose, they blame EVMs (Electronic Voting Machines).”
‘Rahul Gandhi Busted Farce Of Mahayuti’s Majority’: Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav asserted that even the BJP did not find its own victory believable. “Rahul Gandhi, at his press conference in Delhi, busted the farce of the BJP-led Mahayuti’s majority in the state,” he said, as quoted by news agency PTI.
“The BJP took a full month to decide the chief minister despite winning a thumping majority, and the ruling coalition is still not able to resolve disputes over the appointment of district guardian ministers,” Uddhav added.
In the November 2024 Maharashtra Assembly elections, the BJP secured 132 out of 288 seats, followed by the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena with 57 and the Ajit Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) with 41. On the Opposition side, Congress won 16 seats, Shiv Sena (UBT) 20, and NCP (Sharad Pawar faction) 10 seats.
Earlier in the day, Rahul Gandhi alleged numerous irregularities in the Maharashtra polls, claiming that there were more registered voters than the state’s adult population. “More voters were added in five months between the Lok Sabha and state polls than in the five years before that,” Rahul stated. He warned that if the Election Commission did not provide centralised voter data for the Lok Sabha and assembly polls, the opposition—Congress, Shiv Sena (UBT), and NCP (SP)—would approach the judiciary.
The Shiv Sena UBT chief echoed the concerns, questioning the unusual spike in voter registration. “From where did (additional) voters come? Do you think the murder of democracy is a joke?” he asked at the Mumbai event. “Under normal circumstances, it is not easy to enroll new voters,” he added, as per PTI.
Responding to the BJP’s accusations that his faction abandoned Hindutva by allying with the Congress, Uddhav defended his party’s ideological stand. “It was Shiv Sena workers who saved Mumbai during the 1992-93 riots. Show me one example of Shiv Sena (UBT) abandoning Hindutva,” he said.
