Uddhav accuses BJP of 'splitting' other parties as it wasn't confident of winning polls on its own
The Hindu
Mr. Thackeray, who was on a tour of Maharashtra’s Vidarbha region, also accused the BJP-led Centre of raising issues like the Uniform Civil Code ahead of polls just to divert the attention of people for electoral gains.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on July 10 accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of engineering "splits" in other parties and claimed it was doing so as it was not confident of winning elections on its own.
Mr. Thackeray, who was on a tour of Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, also accused the BJP-led Centre of raising issues like the Uniform Civil Code ahead of polls just to divert the attention of people for electoral gains.
After the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly polls, Mr. Thackeray broke ties with the BJP to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government with the help of the NCP and Congress.
The MVA government collapsed in June last year after Eknath Shinde broke ranks with Mr. Thackeray. Mr. Shinde later formed government in alliance with the BJP.
On July 2 this year, Ajit Pawar led a split in the NCP, founded by Sharad Pawar, and joined the Shinde-BJP government as deputy chief minister. Eight other NCP MLAs also took oath as ministers in the State Cabinet.
Addressing Shiv Sena (UBT) workers in Amravati on the second day of his Vidarbha tour, Mr. Thackeray asked the BJP why it needed to "split" other parties when it claimed to have the "number one prime minister in world".
"You are stealing the Shiv Sena, you have also stolen the NCP and you will steal some other tomorrow. You sell off what belongs to the country and rob what belongs to others," he alleged.