A day after he asserted that he was not saddened by the exit of his nephew Raj Thackeray from the party, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray Monday said those who have left the party should return.
"Ya chimnyno parat phira re. Gharakade apulya," (Little sparrows should return to their nest) he said quoting a popular Marathi folk song.
Thackeray made the appeal, in the second part of the interview published in party mouthpiece Saamna Monday, when asked if he felt all those who have left Sena should return.
"I was shocked and hurt. I did not expect this from Raj. I did not even think that Raj would do such a thing even in my dreams. Whatever Raj wanted, I and Udhav had agreed to. But I cannot tell which 'guru' advised and poisoned his mind," he added.
Thackeray said it was he who ran the Shiv Sena. "Even if I wear goggles, I am not Dhritarashtra of Mahabharata," he said.
"I told Raj that he and Udhav should sit together and discuss. What can I do if there were no straight demands. Sena leader Subhash Desai was blamed for hatching a conspiracy against Raj. What interest does Desai have in keeping Raj away? He (Desai) does not indulge in any conspiracy," Thackeray said.
The Sena chief said he would speak on the issue of the future course of action for the party at a function to be held at Shanmukhananda Hall in Mumbai on January 23, on his birthday.
The Sena chief said he was not aware of the proposal to make Udhav the party executive president at the Mahabaleshwar convention a few years back.
Asked if he was extending indirect support to Raj, Thackeray said he had "not done such hidden things in the last 40 years".
To a query, Thackeray said, it was not true that members of Bharatiya Vidhyarti Sena were going away from the parent organisation Shiv Sena after the exit of Raj from the party.
"Not all have gone with him. There are several who are still in Shiv Sena and are attending meetings at Matoshreee," he said.
"Even if Raj were to float a new party tomorrow, the Vidhyarti Sena would be a Shiv Sena organisation," he said.
Asked if he felt Raj would form a new party, he said, "I cannot tell what is in his mind."
Replying to allegations by Raj that the Sena was being run by a coterie of clerks, Thackeray said, "If there are no clerks, then no office will function. If there was somebody who is of no use, he could have been removed at any time. We were ready for that."
Asked the difference between issues raised by Narayan Rane and Raj while leaving the Sena, Thackeray said, Rane alleged that there were monetary transactions while allotting party posts and poll tickets to Sena men while Raj wanted radical organisational changes.
"Those who call themselves leaders, may leave the party, but the real Shiv Sainik is with the party. Those who went away had to keep waiting on the stairs of somebody else's house. What respect and prestige do these people enjoy there?" Thackeray asked.
Sena Supremo further said, "They are always on the waiting list of Congress or Nationalist Congress Party. They are not allowed entry into the house. They will have to live on the leftovers."
