Launching a fresh attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Shiv Sena on Tuesday said he is leaving his work in Delhi to hold rallies in Maharashtra and questioned the work done by him for the state after becoming the prime minister.
The Sena also told their estranged ally that the frequent visits of the prime minister for the campaign were denting the state's coffers.
"The prime minister is busy addressing rallies in Maharashtra leaving his work in Delhi. Modi is a tall leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party but he has been forced to campaign in the state since the party has no known faces in Maharashtra," the Sena said in its editorial mouthpiece Saamana.
If Modi was a "superstar campaigner" as projected by the BJP, he would have appealed to people of the state to vote for his party while sitting in New Delhi, it said.
"If Modi had a mass appeal as projected by the BJP, he would have sat in Delhi and appealed for votes, instead of conducting 25-30 campaigns in different parts of Maharashtra," said the Sena organ.
"When some rogue elements had threatened to disrupt the annual Amarnath yatra, Balasaheb Thackeray had challenged them while sitting in Mumbai. The rogue elements never dared to hurt the pilgrims then," it said.
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray have been questioning Modi's obsession with Gujarat inspite of him being the prime minister, and they have only given words to what the Shiv Sena felt about Modi, it further said.
"It does not suit a prime minister to wander from village to village asking for votes... The dignity of the PM's chair should be upheld," the editorial read.
The Sena also questioned the work done by Modi for Maharashtra after becoming the PM, and said it is ironical that the BJP have suddenly found love for Maratha warrior king Shivaji.
The Sena also said that the burden of the visits was falling on the state's treasury.
"Whenever the prime minister is invited to conduct rallies, many things need to be taken care of. His security and other arrangements need money, the burden of which finally falls on the shoulders of the state treasury. When Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh used the state machinery previously, they were severely criticised," it said.
