Shiv Sena chief gives Sainiks credit for election wins

Mumbai: Taking a dig at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday said that his party workers had showed their strength in the local body polls even when he was absent from the campaign. He attributed the success to all Shiv Sainiks. This reaction from Uddhav came in the backdrop of claims by the BJP that 40 rallies that chief minister Devendra Fadnavis had conducted had helped the party win with a huge margin.

“I congratulate all the Shiv Sainiks for the success. I have not taken out a single rally because I wanted to show the real strength of the Shiv Sainiks. I also thank all the voters who have shown their trust in the party despite the fact that we did not lure them with false promises,” Uddhav said while speaking at Matoshree, where he welcomed newly-elected corporators in the local body polls on Tuesday. The Shiv Sena and BJP contested the polls together, though their alliance was declared at the last minute. The CM had taken out 40 campaign rallies across the state, with the party winning at 33 of these places.

Speaking on the alliance with the BJP, Uddhav said that the local leaders had taken the call. “The Sena had an alliance only with the BJP and in exceptional cases with local parties. But not with any other party,” he said. However, sources in the BJP said that the Sena’s success was because of the alliance. It is also said that a demand has been growing among BJP workers to contest all the upcoming polls, including the BMC elections, independently, without any alliance.

Reacting to Mr Fadnavis’ claim that the BJP would emerge as number one even in the BMC polls, Uddhav simply wished the chief minister good luck. He also expressed admiration for the BJP for its success in the Vidarbha region and admitted that the Sena was somewhat weak there.

The Sena’s 529 councillors have gotten elected from 147 municipal councils and the party grabbed third position after the BJP and Congress.