‘BJP would have split Congress, NCP to form govt in 2014’

Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has claimed that alliance partner Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would have used all means, including splitting the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), to form the government in Mahara-shtra in 2014 had his party not joined the government.

He described the political scenario in the state in 2014 and how he came to the decision of supporting the BJP in Maharashtra.

“Had we not participated in the government, the BJP, like it goes on winning states using all means and like it broke the Congress and Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura, it would have split the Congress and NCP in the same way to form the government in Maharashtra,” Mr Thackeray said.

“Instead of letting that happen, I let my people gain experience of working in the government,” he said, in the second part of his interview to Shiv Sena mouthpiece
Saamana.

Asked what he gained by being in power for four years in Maharashtra, Mr Thackeray said that the Sena ministers in government got an experience of administrative work. “This was in a way a rehearsal for running the government. What should be done, what should not be done? Also, how to implement schemes,” he said.

Mr Thackeray said that the BJP had “duped” the people of the country who had voted for it in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He also needled the BJP over its allegations of corruption against the Congress and the former UPA government, saying that if corruption had “really” taken place, it should have been proved rather than just indulging in mudslinging.

The Shiv Sena is a constituent of the BJP-led governments in the state and at the Centre.