Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, Jan 13: Union Minister and Republican Party of India (A) chief Ramdas Athawale on Monday said that former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray would have retained the Shiv Sena’s iconic ‘bow-and-arrow’ symbol had he continued his alliance with the BJP after the 2019 Assembly elections.
Addressing a Mahayuti rally at Shivaji Park ahead of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections scheduled for January 15, Athawale blamed Uddhav Thackeray’s political decisions for the 2022 split in the Shiv Sena.
“After the 2019 Assembly elections, Uddhav Thackeray should have stayed with the BJP as the Shiv Sena had secured the second-highest number of seats. Had he done so, the bow-and-arrow symbol would have remained with him,” Athawale said.
Recalling the party’s ideological roots, Athawale said late Balasaheb Thackeray had strongly opposed the Congress, but Uddhav Thackeray chose to align with the same party to become chief minister. “That decision cost him the party and its symbol,” he remarked.
In 2023, the Election Commission recognised the Eknath Shinde-led faction as the real Shiv Sena and allotted it the ‘bow-and-arrow’ poll symbol, dealing a major setback to the Uddhav Thackeray-led camp. The Shiv Sena was founded by Bal Thackeray in 1966.
Athawale also alleged large-scale corruption in the BMC and said the civic body needed to be “freed from the clutches of Uddhav Thackeray”. He asserted that the country’s richest municipal corporation should come under the control of the Mahayuti alliance.
Commenting on recent political developments, Athawale claimed that the Mahayuti rally had attracted a larger crowd than the earlier joint rally of cousins Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray, though he added that their coming together was “politically a good thing”.
Praising the BJP-led Maharashtra government and the Centre, Athawale said Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde had undertaken major development works in Mumbai. He also credited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for sanctioning substantial funds for metro projects, suburban railway upgrades, slum redevelopment and housing for the poor, including the Dharavi redevelopment project.