Use-and-throw is BJP's policy, Eknath Shinde's Sena reduced to doormat: Uddhav

Mumbai, Jan 8 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday said the BJP has the tendency to use its allies and discard them, and it has reduced the Eknath Shinde-led Sena faction to a "doormat".

In an interview to PTI Videos, Thackeray referred to the local alliances formed by the BJP with the Congress in Ambernath Municipal Council and with the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM) at Akot in Akola.

The former Maharashtra chief minister pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party had formed an alliance with the Mehbooba Mufti-led PDP in the past, and Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, who had once called for ridding the country of the RSS, has been its ally.

"BJP's tendency is to use and throw. This bad tendency was not there during Atal ji's (Atal Bihari Vajpyee) time. The BJP has turned the Shinde-led Shiv Sena into a doormat," Thackeray said.

Shinde, notably, split the Shiv Sena led by Thackeray in June 2022, and formed a government with the BJP's support.

Following the civic polls last month, the BJP joined hands with the Congress, its arch rival, and Ajit Pawar-led NCP under the banner of 'Ambernath Vikas Aghadi' to win power in Ambernath Municipal Council in neighbouring Thane district, sidelining Shinde's Shiv Sena.

The BJP also forged an alliance with the AIMIM in Akot Municipal Council, but it was scrapped following a rebuke by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis.

Uddhav, meanwhile, also accused the BJP of wanting to reduce Mumbai's importance.

"We will not tolerate that a Marathi manoos (native Marathi-speaker) is denied a house in Mumbai," he said, in apparent reference to allegations that some housing societies deny flats to Maharashtrians for being nonvegetarians.

On who would become the mayor of Mumbai following the January 15 elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), Thackeray said, "We are saying a Marathi person will be the mayor of Mumbai. The BJP says a Hindu will be the mayor. Does the BJP accept the Marathi manoos as a Hindu? Has a Marathi person become the mayor in other cities?" The Sena (UBT) chief also defended his poll promise of Rs 1,500 financial assistance to domestic helps and women from the Koli community, and said providing better services is not a "revdi" (freebie) culture.

Thackeray also targeted the BJP over the deteriorating air quality in Mumbai, stating that the city has never seen these levels of pollution, and blamed it on the lack of planning.

He also accused the ruling BJP-led alliance of taking kickbacks from BMC contractors.

The undivided Shiv Sena led by Thackeray parted ways with its long-time ally BJP in 2019 and joined hands with the Congress and NCP. The undivided Sena had controlled the BMC for more than two decades until 2022 when the term of the last civic body ended. PTI PR VT KRK