Not fielding independent candidate against Gadkari: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai, March 19: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray today dismissed reports that his party may field a decoy candidate against former BJP chief Nitin Gadkari who is contesting his maiden Lok Sabha election from Nagpur seat. "We have expressed our stand on Gadkari. Whenever things go wrong we will talk on it.

However, we will not betray him (Gadkari) during elections," Uddhav said during a press conference at his residence 'Matoshree' in suburban Bandra.

He was responding to a query on whether Shiv Sena would prop up an Independent nominee against Gadkari. Gadkari's recent overtures to MNS chief Raj Thackeray in run-up to elections caused a lot of heartburn in Shiv Sena which castigated BJP and also asked it to follow "alliance dharma".

Claiming that everything between the two alliance partners is "alright" now, Uddhav said he would never "backstab" Gadkari. "Shiv Sena is not a party of backstabbers. We will not backstab Gadkari. Whatever I did not like (Gadkari meeting Raj), I spoke about it," Uddhav told reporters. "Since everything is going well (between Shiv Sena and BJP), we do not want anybody to spoil it," Uddhav said.

PTI