Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Saturday derided his nephew and MNS chief Raj for opposing Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar’s Mumbai visit and then backtracking. He termed Raj’s flip-flop as an attempt to get public attention. The Sena leader was however, all praise for Mr Kumar.
Referring to Raj’s changing stands on Mr Kumar’s Mumbai visit, the Sena chief said that the hot vada, had suddenly become rabdi.
Calling it a free of cost “tamashaa” in his editorial published in Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamana, Mr Thackeray said that Raj’s stand on Mr Kumar’s visit was all about “publicity and not about Marathi pride”.
“Such free of cost tamashaa is always for money. It has nothing to do with Marathi pride or the development of the state. Nitish Kumar is the leader of good ethical values. He was not coming here to attack Maharashtra or destroy temples like Babur or Aurangzeb,” Mr Thackeray said.
The Sena chief further claimed that he was already given an assurance by the organisers that the Bihar centenary celebration function was not going to be a political function.
However, Mr Thackeray praised the Bihar CM for his developmental work. “Because of Nitish Kumar’s leadership, Bihar has started witnessing development and I have praised him for that on many occasions. Mumbai will not see huge influx of migrants, if rulers bring development in their respective states. Nitish is doing it in Bihar…He needs to be backed,” Mr Thackeray said.
The Sena chief also criticised the media for giving “undue” importance to Raj’s opposition to Nitish’s visit, even when the state was facing “important issues” such as drought, corruption and inflation.