Raj Thackeray’s party being used for political gain: Uddhav Thackeray

A day after the controversy over the release of Karan Johar’s film Ae Dil Hai Muskil (ADHM) ended, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray once again targeted chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and MNS chief Raj Thackeray for “settling” the issue. Mr Uddhav Thackeray, who is in Goa for the party’s expansion, had criticised BJP on Saturday for being “power hungry.”

Taking a dig at the CM and Raj Thackeray who met at the former’s official residence with the Producers’ Guild, the Sena chief said the outcome was expected. “I have not got the complete information of the meeting. But these three (CM, Raj and Karan Johar) are producing a movie ‘Ye to Hona Hi Tha’ (It was expected),” he said sarcastically.

With the intervention of Mr Fadnavis, ADHM will finally hit the cinema halls this Diwali.

Reacting to reports about the Army refusing to accept the Rs 5 crore that would allegedly be paid by the ADHM producers, Uddhav Thackeray said that they have self-pride and cannot take extortion money. “The Army has self pride. They do not want money out of extortion. If you want to contribute for the Army then help them with good intentions,” he said. The comment came after Raj claimed that it was decided in the meeting between the CM, him and the producers that Rs 5 crore would be contributed to the Army welfare fund. However, the producers have said they were paying the money willingly and no one has forced them to agree to such a condition.

The Sena had also said earlier that it deliberately distanced itself from the controversy to expose the MNS. To a query on why the Sena remained away from the opposition to Pakistani artistes this time, Sena leader Anil Parab said it was to expose the MNS. “We have never changed our stand on Pakistani artistes and players. But we wanted that the people should know about how MNS withdraws from issues later after raising them,” he had said. “MNS has never remained firm on its stand. Earlier, the Congress used MNS in the 2009 polls and got elected. Now someone else is using the MNS for political gain,” he added.