Uddhav, Fadnavis face-off ahead of municipal polls

It would set the tone for the forthcoming municipal polls in Maharashtra including in the financial capital of Mumbai

In what could set the tone for the forthcoming municipal polls in Maharashtra including in the financial capital of Mumbai, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis are set for a face-off next weekend.

While Thackeray, the Shiv Sena President, would address a rally at the BKC ground at Bandra on Saturday, 14 May, Fadnavis will address a rally at the NESCO complex at Goregaon on Sunday, 15 May.

At a time when the two-and-a-half-year-old Uddhav-led Maha Vikas Aghadi dispensation is facing repeated attacks from the Shiv Sena’s friend-turned-for BJP, the chain of developments next week is expected to shoot the mercury up as far as the political scenario in the state is concerned.

Over the last few days, Uddhav, who in alliance with Sharad Pawar-led NCP and Congress, heads the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, has been indicating that he would speak his mind out and have targeted political rivals over what he stated as “ideological pollution” and politics of hatred.

“Did ‘ache din’ come?…. Firstly, you don’t allow (us) to work…and whatever good work we do, you accuse and allege corruption….The opposition does not mean that you have to oppose everything…you need to have a big heart…there has to be some standard in politics…We are seeing climate change, global warming….this is a result of pollution…there is also ideological pollution,” Uddhav started on Saturday without naming BJP. “Whatever I have in mind, I will speak on 14 May,” he added.

On the other hand, the BJP has planned a rally for Fadnavis, the very next day, on 15 May.

Senior North Indian BJP leader RU Singh, who is the chief coordinator of Uttar Bharatiya Sammelan, is working on the rally. “Fadnavis will expose the (MVA) government’s misdeeds and sound the bugle for civic bodies polls,” he said.

Over the last two weeks, Fadnavis has sharpened his attack on Shiv Sena and this was evident from the 1 May booster dose rally in Mumbai, in which he launched a no holds barred broadside against the Thackerays.

Fadnavis, a former two-time Chief Minister, said that on 6 December 1992 when the Babri structure was brought down, he himself was present. “This Devendra Fadnavis was present when the Babri structure was brought down…we never considered it as a mosque, it was a structure….they (Shiv Sena) claim that they have done it…but let me tell you not a single Shiv Sena leader or Shiv Sanik was present there…not a single Shiv Sainik figure in the list of accused,” he said.

It needs to be mentioned that Thackeray also stayed away from the event in which the first-ever Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar Award was presented to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 24 June - and instead along with his wife Rashmi and sons Aaditya and Tejas visited the home of Chandrabhaga Shinde has earned the sobriquet of Fire Aaji, as she said during the protests - “marega lekin jhukega nahi” when the Rana couple Ravi Rana and Navneet Singh Rana planned to chant Hanuman Chalisa outside Matoshree.