Sena calls BJP 'a version of Congress'

The Shiv Sena on Monday stepped up its attack on the Bharatiya Janata Party, saying its partner in Maharashtra and the central government has become 'a version of the Congress'.

"Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said BJP won't align with the Congress, but has made his party 'Congress' by inducting many from the Congress-Nationalist Congress Party into the BJP fold,' it said.

'That is why, the Congress is preferable, but the question is where will this BJP-turned-Congress take Maharashtra and the country,' an editorial in Sena mouthpiece Saamana said.

'Our salutations to those who are dancing to the tune of 'saala mein to Congresswala ban gaya,' the Sena quipped, targeting Fadnavis and the BJP.

'Fadnavis should have said the BJP won’t go with the Congress but (will go) with pro-Pakistan Mehbooba Mufti in Kashmir. The Congress is doubtful, but sharing power with Mehbooba Mufti, who supports Afzal Guru, is more dangerous,’ it said.

The Sena also said the BJP leaders are creating sounds of empty vessels over the issue of who will become the Mumbai mayor.

A day after the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation poll results were declared, Shiv Sena had asserted that the civic body’s mayor will be from their party.

The Sena's attack on Monday on the BJP came a day after Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ideologue M G Vaidya favoured sharing of the Mumbai mayor’s post by the BJP and the Sena in view of the fractured verdict in the BMC polls.

Neither the Sena, which emerged as the single largest party after the February 21 election to the 227-member BMC by winning 84 seats, nor the BJP, which won 82 seats, can come to power on its own in the cash-rich civic body with the ‘magic number’ being 114.

The suspense over alignment of parties for controlling the Mumbai civic body continues, with the Congress, which finished third in the race with 31 seats, ruling out support to the Shiv Sena and the BJP refusing to accept Congress’ backing.

IMAGE: Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray addresses a press conference at Sena Bhavan in Mumbai. Photograph: PTI Photo