Thackeray needs to be taught a lesson: Shah tells party workers in Mumbai

Mumbai, Sep 05: Union Home Minister Amit Shah, who is in Mumbai on a two-day trip, has reportedly asked the party workers to teach a lesson for Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray for betraying the BJP.

Shah on Monday held a meeting of BJP MPs, MLAs, MLCs and corporators with respect to the upcoming Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) elections at the residence of Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadanvis in Mumbai.

"We can tolerate anything in politics but not betrayal," NDTV sources quoted Amit Shah as saying at the meeting. He accused the Shiv Sena chief of betraying the ideology and insulting the mandating given to the BJP-Sena alliance.

Shah told the party workers that Thackeray's "greed" had led to the split in Shiv Sena and denied the BJP's role in the rebellion by Eknath Shinde. "Today I want to say again that we never promised Uddhav Thackeray the post of Chief Minister. We are people who practice politics openly and not in closed rooms," he added.

He urged the party leaders to punish Thackeray by winning 150 seats in the BMC polls.

The BJP is aiming to wrest control of the BMC from the Shiv Sena, which ruled the cash rich civic body till an administrator was appointed earlier this year due to delay in holding the polls.