THANE: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday accused the Congress-led central and state governments of targeting the RSS leaders and functionaries as conspirators in bomb blasts, while giving concessions to Sanjay Dutt, who was convicted for his role in the 1993 Mumbai explosions.
Thakeray, who was addressing a public rally in Dombivli, the heartland of Hindutva here, expressed his surprise on how Dutt, who has been sentenced to five years in jail, got sanction for parole on will, but Sadhvi Pradnay Thakur and Lt Col Shrikant Purohit have been left to rot in jail for years, without the police filing chargesheet. BJP’s Gopinath Munde and RPI’s Ramdas Athavale were also present at the rally.
Making an aggressive pitch to tap into the Hindutva sentiment in a polarized poll atmosphere.
The Sena leader also said that the Congress was trying to defame RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat by suggesting that he was in the know about the blasts which rocked Ajmer Sharif and the Samjhauta Express.
Given the strong presence of Hidutva voters in the Kalyan-Dombvili Lok Sabha segment, the Sena leader’s speech was clearly an attempt to consolidate their voter base and to put the Congress and its allies on the mat for pandering to the anti-Hindutva votes.
Our Hindutva is our nationalism,” Uddhav said amidst cheers as he Thackeray also attacked NCP chief Sharad Pawar by calling him a traitor, heading a party of defectors. “He broke off from the Congress to set up his own party and on the issue of foreign leadership of Sonia Gandhi. Fifteen years later, he is a minister in their government,” he said.
Lashing out at the UPA’s failure to tackle the issues of food inflation and price rise, the Sena leader said the recent food security bill promises food grains at Rs 2 per kg but the quality of the grains is substandard.
“The government promised give foodgrains at Rs 2 per kg, without considering the costs of an LPG cylinder. How do they expect people to cook ese cheap and substandard food grains with the cost of cooking gas shooting through the roof?” he asked.
Though there was speculation that the Sena president would declare the names of the saffron brigade’s candidate for the Kalyan and Thane LS seats,
However, Thackeray avoided mentioning his candidates for the Kalyan and Thane LS seats on Sunday. Earlier, Munde declared that if the saffron partners are brought to power in the stateassembly elections, they would work out policies to do-away with the toll collections and also find an alternative to the local body taxwhich is being opposed by the traders community here.