'Ravan is different this time': Uddhav Thackeray takes dig at Eknath Shinde

Mumbai, Oct 05: Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday slammed Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, saying the rebels can't wipe away the tag of 'gaddar' (traitor) in this birth.

Addressing a gathering at Mumbai's Shivaji Park on the occasion of Dussehra, Thackeray said that there will be a 'Ravana Dahan' ceremony, but the Ravana of this year is different.

"As per our yearly tradition, there will be a 'Ravana Dahan' ceremony, but the Ravana of this year is different. With time, Ravana also changes... He used to be 10-headed till now...how many heads does he have now? He is 50 times more betraying," said Uddhav Thackeray.

"The only thing I feel bad and angry about is that when I was admitted to the hospital, the people whom I gave the responsibility (of the state) became 'Katappa' and betrayed us... They were cutting me and thinking that I will never return from hospital," he added.

"Those whom we gave everything have betrayed us and those who were not given anything, are all together. This Sena is not of one or two but of all of you. As long as you are with me, I will be the leader of the party," Uddhav further said.

Shinde was now trying to appropriate Sena founder Bal Thackeray's legacy because he could not get votes in his "own father's name," he said. He formed a post-poll alliance with Congress and Nationalist Congress Party in 2019 to teach the BJP a lesson for going back on its past assurance, Thackeray said.

"I swear on my parents that it had been decided that BJP and Shiv Sena will share the chief minister's post for two and a half years each," he said. Shinde was among the first to be sworn in as a minister along with Congress and NCP leaders, and "he had no problem then," Thackeray said, referring to Shinde's claim that he rebelled because he and his supporters did not approve of the new alliance.

He did not want lessons from BJP on Hindutva, Thackeray said.