Thackeray-Munde war of words in Maharashtra

Maharashtrians await the Shiv Sena's Dassera rally with baited breath.

Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray is known to target his ''bitterest enemies'' on the occasion -- Bangladeshi immigrants, Muslims and minorities, south Indians and Gujaratis have experienced it in the past.

But this year's rally was an exception. No, he did not deliver a bland speech, but chose to blast his alliance partner, the Bharatiya Janata Party.

''The BJP is prepared to shake hands with anyone for the sake of power,'' he said. ''In Bombay's satellite towns Kalyan and Dombivli, the party forged an alliance with the Congress. While in power, the BJP speaks of Hindutva, and out of it appeasement of Muslims. Sometime they join hands with the Bahujan Samaj Party and in between the Congress.''

Thackeray went on to add that he ''was not like them. I never forge an alliance with the Congress''.

Countering the allegations, Deputy Chief Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party leader Gopinath Munde said, ''It is unjust and unfair. As a senior leader of the ruling alliance, Thackeray should not have made such wild allegations.

''My party has resolved to make the Congress a non-entity in the Indian politics. As the largest single party in the Lok Sabha, the BJP has the capacity to defeat the Congress in the coming general elections.''

Justifying his party's alliance with Kanshi Ram's BSP in Uttar Pradesh as ''appropriate and pragmatic'', Munde regretted that the Sena was targeting the entire BJP for some minor incidents here and there.

The deputy chief minister said his party's stand of forging tie-ups with regional parties stood vindicated as they have defeated the Congress in most such places. In this context, he referred to the party's alliance with the Akali Dal in Punjab, the Haryana Vikas Party in Haryana, the Samata Party in Bihar. In all these states, the Congress is a distant third, he said.

Clarifying that his party's alliance with the Sena was limited to the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, Munde was equally critical of the Sena for its tie-up with the Congress during zilla parishad elections in Nagpur. The Sena should break the understanding at least now, he added.

Claiming that there were no differences between the alliance partners, Munde said he will meet Thackeray shortly to express his party's displeasure over the outburst.

Compiled from the Marathi media by Prasanna D Zore