'Old jumlas repackaged as Modi ki Guarantee ahead of elections,' Thackeray lashes out at BJP

Uddhav Thackeray. File pic

Shiv Sena (UBT) president Uddhav Thackeray slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) saying that the it is selling its old false promises now as 'Modi ki Guarantee' to lure people ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.

The former chief minister of Maharashtra, Thackeray on Monday addressed a gathering in Panvel and appealed the local voters to defeat the sitting Lok Sabha member from Maval constituency, Shrirang Barne in the upcoming elections, who has switched over to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

Panvel is part of Mumbai Metropolitan region, but falls Raigad district and is part of the Maval Lok Sabha constituency, from where Barne won in 2019 as the candidate of the undivided Shiv Sena. After a split in the party, Barne joined the Shinde-led faction.

"BJP leaders during 2014 Lok Sabha elections made several promises to people. Now, the same false promises or jumlas have been repackaged as 'Modi ki Guarantee' and being offered to people ahead of general elections. The country has never seen a party full of leaders who are outright liars," Thackeray lashed out, reported PTI.

BJP is Thackeray's ally-turned-political foe. The undivided Shiv Sena and BJP fought for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls in alliance, after unrestrained attacked on BJP from Shiv Sena since 2014, despite been in the government together. However, after winning the state in 2019, the undivided Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray joined the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA), consisting Congress and undivided NCP.

As per PTI report, Uddhav Thackeray also dug up the issue of money collected under the PM CARES Fund during the coronavirus pandemic and claimed its utilisation remains unexplained. "BJP leaders from Maharashtra donated to the PM CARES Fund, but surprisingly, its utilisation is completely unknown to us. These BJP leaders did not donate to the CM Relief Fund when I was the chief minister (November 2019-June 2022) and the COVID-19 pandemic was in full swing," he said.

Thackeray referred to the Prime Minister's Office informing the Delhi High Court in January last year that the PM CARES Fund is not a "State" under Article 12 of the Constitution and does not constitute a "public authority" under the Right to Information Act, 2005.

On Sunday, Thackeray also slammed BJP for nominating Kripashankar Singh for Lok Sabha polls. Singh, the former Mumbai Congress chief, had left the party in 2019 and joined BJP in 2021. "It is surprising that someone with allegations of corruption is nominated by BJP, but leader like Nitin Gadkari's name is missing from the list," Thackeray said.

Singh is nominated by BJP from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh for Lok Sabha 2024 elections.

(With PTI inputs)