Waiting to see how BJP handles its new 'riff-raffs': Uddhav Thackeray

As he started the whirlwind tour of the Vidarbha region from the Poharadevi temple, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) head Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday lashed out at the BJP saying that the new trend is to "run away" with political parties.

“The politics of breaking parties is not new…earlier they used to break parties…now they run away with parties,” Thackeray said commencing his tour of Yavatmal, Wasim, Amravati, Akola and Nagpur districts.

The visit to the Poharadevi temple in Washim district is significant as it is the biggest pilgrimage centre of the Banjara community and because it houses the temple of Jagadambadevi and the shrine of Sant Sevalal Maharaj.

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It may be mentioned that Sanjay Rathod, the then Forest Minister in the Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had to put in his papers on 28 February 2021, as he came under severe criticism and pressure because of his name cropping up in the wake of the death of social media star Pooja Chavan. Rathod, a member of the Banjara community who wields influence in the Yavatmal-Washim area, later switched sides, exiting the party with Eknath Shinde, and currently serves as a minister in the Shinde-led government.

In his comments on what happened with his own Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena and now with Sharad Pawar-headed NCP, Uddhav said, “The BJP has no right to preach to anyone... I am waiting to see how the BJP handles its new riff-raffs.”

Thackeray reiterated that when he was still in alliance with the BJP, the party had assured him of the chief minister’s post for two-and-a-half years, on a rotational basis. “What (then BJP president and now Union Home Minister) Amit Shah promised should have been kept…the BJP would have had their chief minister by now,” Thackeray said.

The vast Vidarbha region, which has 11 districts spread across two revenue divisions of Nagpur and Amravati, is very significant in Maharashtra politics.

In the 288-member Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, the largest chunk of 62-plus members come from the Vidarbha region.

In the 2019 Vidhan Sabha polls, the BJP won 29 seats from the region, while Shiv Sena won 4 seats - when they contested the polls together as a saffron alliance.

The central Indian city of Nagpur houses the RSS headquarters and is also the home town of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, state BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule and Union Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. State Forest Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar too hails from the region's Chandrapur.

Vidarbha used to be a stronghold of the Congress party, but over the years, the BJP has nurtured it into a political stronghold.