'Gang war' has broken out in Maharashtra govt, claims Uddhav

Sawantwadi, Feb 4 (PTI) Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday claimed a "gang war" has broken out in the Maharashtra alliance government and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should understand that the state BJP unit has "weakened" due to the induction of leaders into it by breaking other parties.

The former state chief minister's remarks came two days after an incident of firing by an MLA of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on a local Shiv Sena leader (belonging to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde camp) at a police station in Ulhasnagar area of Thane district.

The MLA, Ganpat Gaikwad (56), has been arrested. Shiv Sena's Kalyan unit chief Mahesh Gaikwad (40), who was attacked, was in a critical condition.

Addressing a rally at Sawantwadi in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, Thackeray said the previous Shiv-Sena BJP government in the 1990s had broken the back of underworld gangs in Mumbai.

"But now, in the present government, a gang war has broken out. The third gang is neck deep in Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam and hence has no time to raise its head," Thackeray alleged without naming any ally in the Eknath Shinde-led government.

PM Modi should understand that the state BJP unit has "weakened" due to the trend of breaking other parties and the induction of leaders into its fold, he claimed.

Thackeray said he was not opposed to any individual but was against lies and dictatorship.

The country does not need a government with absolute majority but a regime of the INDIA bloc, an alliance formed by various opposition parties, which will take everyone along, he said.

"If the BJP wins again in the Lok Sabha polls (due in a few months), there will be no Republic Day next year," he claimed.

Thackeray said PM Modi is making frequent trips to Maharashtra.

"Every time he comes, he takes away something from the state to Gujarat. The Navy Day was celebrated on the Konkan coast in Sindhudurg. The PM came here and then I hear that the submarine tourism project which I cleared when I was the chief minister is being shifted to Gujarat," he claimed.

Notably, the state government has clarified there is no such plan to shift the project.

"Every time the PM comes here he takes away something. He did not come here when the region suffered two cyclones - Tauktae and Nisarg. He gave no financial assistance," Thackeray claimed.

"Do we need such a PM?" he asked the gathering. PTI