In response to PM Modi’s ‘false Shiv Sena’ statement, Uddhav Thackeray adds, ‘My party not like your degree’

Responding to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ‘false Shiv Sena’ remark, Uddhav Thackeray, the head of the Shiv Sena (UBT), said that his party was not like ‘your degree’. He said that Bal Thackeray created his party with the intention of defending the rights of the people.

“People are calling the Shiv Sena, which Bal Thackeray created to defend the rights of sons of soil, phoney. This is a phoney Shiv Sena, they claim. To label it false is not in line with your degree. Are you referring to this degree as fake? Uddhav Thackeray stated at a campaign event on Friday, “His other party member, Amit Shah, came after him (PM Modi) and he too called it fake.”

At a public event in Chandrapur, Maharashtra, on Monday, PM Modi said, “DMK, an alliance partner of India, is talking about completing Sanatan and connecting Sanatana Dharma to dengue and malaria. Additionally, the same individuals are being invited to rallies in Maharashtra by the Congress and the phoney Shiv Sena.”

Amit Shah, meanwhile, said on Thursday that Rahul Gandhi is leading three parties that have come together in Maharashtra. Half of Congress, one phoney NCP, and one fake Shiv Sena. In Gujarat, we say something called ‘Teen Tighda Kaam Bigada’. Congress was cut in half by Uddhav Ji’s Shiv Sena and Sharad Ji’s NCP, both of which are on the left.”

At a Friday campaign event in Boisar, near Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray predicted that the India alliance would win more than 300 seats in the Lok Sabha. “I am saying this with pride and confidence, that the India alliance will form the government and will win more than 300 seats,” he said.

The Uddhav Thackeray-led administration fell in June 2022 when Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and forty other MLAs rebelled against the party’s leadership and defected to the BJP. When well-known figures like Ajit Pawar and Chhagan Bhujbal sided with the state’s governing BJP in 2023, the NCP also experienced a rift.

In an attempt to challenge the BJP in the next Lok Sabha elections, the Shiv Sena (UBT) has now joined the recently created India bloc. With 48 Lok Sabha seats, Maharashtra has the second-largest number after Uttar Pradesh. The BJP, running in coalition with the Shiv Sena, won 23 of the 25 Lok Sabha seats in the 2019 elections. Maharashtra will have five rounds of elections on April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13, and May 20 for the 48 Lok Sabha seats. On June 4, the votes will be tallied.