Taking a dig at the Congress over the nomination of Sachin Tendulkar to the Rajya Sabha, Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray on Sunday termed the action the real “dirty picture”.
“It is the Congress’ dirtiest trick. The real dirty picture is this,” said Mr Thackeray. He was talking after receiving the lifetime achievement award by Raipur-based magazine Cartoon Watch.
Mr Thackeray had also criticised the Congress over the nomination in his party mouthpiece Saamna on Saturday, saying that Tendulkar’s fans would have loved to call him Bharat Ratna Sachin and now he would only be Sachin Tendulkar, MP.
He had also stated in his mouthpiece that this is an attempt of the Congress to “divert the attention of the media” and “there are ulterior motives behind the nomination,” Mr Thackeray, however, maintained that he was proud of Tendulkar’s achievement.
While reacting to a question on how would he draw Sachin’s cartoon, Mr Thackeray said, “For some people, a mere photograph is enough.”
Mr Thackeray, who was at his regular witty self, enthralled the audience and spoke on various topics. “I have left smoking cigar and only drink wine,” he said. The Sena chief also criticised social activist Anna Hazare, appealing to him to first look at the corrupt persons in his team and then talk about curbing corruption.
When asked over NCP chief Sharad Pawar’s statement that the next President should be without political leanings, Mr Thackeray said, ”Don’t tell me about Pawar. He is unreliable.”
Meanwhile, reacting to Mr Thackeray’s potshots, MPCC spokesperson Sachin Sawant said, “If Thackeray says nominating Sachin to Rajya Sabha is like ‘Dirty Picture’, then was nominating Rajkumar Dhoot a case of ‘Apna Sapna Money Money?” Industrialist Rajkumar Dhoot was appointed by the Sena a few years back to represent Maharashtra in the Rajya Sabha.