Uddhav Thackeray vows to take revenge for 2022 Maharashtra political crisis

Nearly 10 months after his Maha Vikas Aghadi government was toppled by a group of rebels with the help of the BJP, Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday vowed to take revenge.

“The way we were stabbed in the back and the government was toppled, we need to take revenge…and surely we will take revenge,” said Thackeray, who now heads the Shiv Sena (UBT), while addressing the 55th Foundation Day of the Bharatiya Kamgar Sena, the workers welfare wing of the Balasaheb Thackeray-founded Shiv Sena.

“Our days are not over. We will come back again,” he said.

Taking a dig at the BJP, he added, “It has a very big purification plant. Corrupt people are washed here.”

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Thackeray also lashed out at the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government for big projects going out of Maharashtra.

“In the two-and-a-half years (of MVA), we brought in Rs 25 lakh crore investments…and now (when Shinde-Fadnavis government is in power) many have fled. And they talk about the legacy of Balasaheb,” he said, adding that the Shiv Sena was born for the welfare of ‘bhoomiputras’ (sons of the soil) and their rights.

On why his government was probably toppled, Thackeray said: “They destabilised my government because we took a stand against projects which were not in favour of the people of Maharashtra. Local people were opposing projects like the bullet train, Aaray car shed, Nanar refinery and so on…how can we just force these projects on them?”

Thackeray further pointed out that projects like Vedanta-Foxconn, Tata-Airbus, Bulk Drug Park have gone to other states. “If the Chief Minister gets time from farming, which he was doing a few days back, then he should face people and answer why these projects have gone to other states. What about the loss of employment of locals?” he said.

He said when the Samruddhi Corridor was facing opposition, he himself had gone and convinced people. “Now we are seeing protests in Barsu-Solgaon in Rajapur tehsil Ratnagiri district (against the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd project). The government must speak to people,” he said.