In a veiled attack on MNS chief Raj Thackeray, former Mumbai Mayor Kishori Pednerkar on Wednesday said she was “annoyed” by her cousin and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray becoming the Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
Without naming the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president, Pednekar said he was misbehaving like his cousin, the way he used to do against the BJP earlier. His remarks come amid controversy over the MNS chief’s call to play Hanuman Chalisa outside mosques that use loudspeakers for ‘azaan’ (prayer calls).
“Making sure that Shiv Sena will not go ahead after (party founder) Balasaheb Thackeray, he (Uddhav Thackeray) became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra. That anger is reflected in his (Raj Thackeray’s) action,” Pednekar told reporters in Nashik, about 200 km from here.
He also accused Raj Thackeray of being responsible for the “self-torture” of the late Shiv Sena supremo and his uncle. “You were the one who troubled ‘Matoshree’ (Uddhav Thackeray’s residence) Still you need Balasaheb,” Pednekar said while replying to a question about Raj Thackeray’s tweet about Balasaheb’s video on the loudspeaker issue.
While Pednekar insisted that the Supreme Court’s decision on loudspeakers came because of Balasaheb Thackeray, Pednekar said the apex court’s decision about loudspeakers to the central government instead of pushing Raj Thackeray to implement it only in Mumbai and Maharashtra should be forced to implement.
The former mayor also alleged that efforts were being made to bring trouble for Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was praised as the “number one” CM in the country. “You focus on improving your graph, but don’t try to erase our lines,” he said to a question on Raj Thackeray’s suggestion to Uddhav Thackeray about choosing between Balasaheb Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. Responding, he also suggested a comparison of Maharashtra’s handling of the COVID crisis with that of other state governments.
Recently Raj Thackeray had praised Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh for removing loudspeakers from mosques in that state. The Shiv Sena leader said, “If loudspeakers are removed by creating law and order problems in Mumbai and Maharashtra, will everything be fine in the country.”
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