‘Thapad se dar nahi lagta’: Thackeray hits back at BJP

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said he is used to criticism now and gets scared only when someone compliments him.

“Thapad se dar nahi lagta,” the Shiv Sean chief said at an event in Worli, Mumbai, which was also attended by NCP chief Sharad Pawar and several ministers of the Maha Vikas Aghadi government. “Some people want to slap us. We will give them such a slap that they will not be able to get up again,” he said.

The CM’s comment came a day after BJP MLC Prasad Lad spoke about “demolishing” Shiv Sena Bhavan.

Addressing BJP workers in Mahim on Saturday, a stronghold of the Sena, Lad said: “Whenever we come here, a huge police force is deployed. They are so afraid. They think that when we come to Mahim, we will demolish Shiv Sena Bhavan… Don’t be afraid, if the time comes, we will do it too.”

The BJP’s top leadership in Maharashtra, however, expressed disapproval at the language used by Lad.

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“We don’t believe in tod-phod politics. It is not part of BJP culture,” Leader of the Opposition Devendra Fadnavis said, adding that the party has its own ideology and style of work, which is constructive and development-oriented. “We don’t attack anybody first. But if somebody attacks us, we don’t take it lying down. It is countered effectively,” he said.

BJP leaders also urged Lad to retract or clarify his statement. Following this, Lad issued a video statement late Saturday night. “I have the highest regard for the late Bal Thackeray and see Sena Bhavan as a sacred abode. How can I speak against the Sena Bhavan? What I meant was that the BJP is a major power and it will prove its might against political rival Sena in the upcoming BMC polls.”

“Last month the Sena had attacked our activists outside the Sena Bhavan. So it was a political reply. It was certainly not directed at the Sena supremo or the Bhavan,” he said.