Raj Thackeray says ‘trap’ made him defer Ayodhya visit, MNS points finger at Pawar for ‘trap’

Raj Thackeray, who last week called off his proposed Ayodhya visit, claimed that he had to make the decision as there was a “trap” being laid for him, and his party workers, at Ayodhya, ahead of the election season in Maharashtra.

While Raj was supposed to visit Ayodhya on June 5, Bharatiya Janata Party MP Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh had opposed the visit because of the latter’s anti-north Indian stand. Singh had threatened that Raj’s entry would be foiled if the latter didn’t apologise for the 2008 assault on north Indians in Mumbai.

Raj, while calling off his Ayodhya visit, had said that he would undergo hip surgery on June 1, and had to be on rest for three-four weeks after that.

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However, addressing a rally on Sunday, the MNS chief claimed, “The day I stood (my ground) on loudspeakers in mosques, I had announced that I would be visiting Ayodhya. After that, a lot happened…(including) that I would not be allowed to enter Ayodhya…I was getting information from Mumbai, Delhi and even Uttar Pradesh…People were telling me what exactly is happening. Then I realised this was a trap…I should not get trapped…It all started from Maharashtra.”

He, however, did not name anyone when claiming about the “trap”.

Now some Maharashtra Navnirman Sena party workers have tweeted photographs of Singh accompanying Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar, insinuating there that BJP and NCP were in cahoots for thwarting Raj’s Ayodhya visit. MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande, party general secretary Dr Vageesh Saraswat, and spokesperson Gajanan Kale all tweeted photos of Singh along with Pawar and his daughter Supriya Sule.

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All the tweets implied there was an alliance between Pawar and Singh, and that they were targeting Raj Thackeray.

Reacting to the photos, NCP has said it was an old photo. “The photo is vis-a-vis a wrestling event and has nothing to do with politics. Pawar saheb was the chief guest of the event,” said NCP chief spokesperson Mahesh Bharat Tapase.

Singh didn’t refute his relationship with Pawar at all. Singh, who is the president of the Wrestling Federation of India and vice-president of the United World Wrestling-Asia, told news channel tv9 Marathi that he was proud of his relationship with Pawar, as the NCP chief is a patron of the Maharashtra Wrestling Association.