Maharashtra will not accept ‘Mashaal’ held in ‘Panja’: State BJP chief

Thackeray had given up the ideology of Hindutva and accepted the ideals of the Congress and the NCP for the position of the chief minister, state BJP president said

Targeting Uddhav Thackeray, the Bharatiya Janata Party on Tuesday said that Maharashtra will not accept “mashaal” (a burning torch) held in “panja” (claws), referring to the alliance of Thackeray-led Shiv Sena, the Indian National Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party.

“Thackeray had given up the ideology of Hindutva and accepted the ideals of the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party for the position of the chief minister. People have seen how fake his Hindutva ideology was. Even if he has taken ‘mashaal’ as his symbol, still the ‘mashaal’ is being held by the ‘panja’. And people in the state will not accept this ‘mashaal’ which is being held by the ‘panja’,” state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule said.

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“Also, this Mashaal will never get lit,” the former energy minister, who is now an MLC, said, while speaking to reporters in Bhandara.

“Thackeray’s Shiv Sena is politically alive only because of the support from the Congress and the NCP. The leadership that abandoned Hindutva ideology and accepted Congress and NCP’s ideologies, will not benefit whatsoever whether their party symbol is a ‘mashaal’ or any other symbol,” he said.

“Thackeray needs to introspect. Why did Shiv Sena split? Why did the party’s MPs and MLAs leave? It is solely his responsibility to manage his party and the BJP is not responsible for the affairs of their party,” Bawankule said.