Thackerays to ensure Mumbai remains with Marathis, not Gujaratis: Sanjay Raut

Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena Rajya Sabha MP and chief party spokesperson said here on Saturday that the only aim behind the move to fight local civic body elections together with the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) is to ensure that Mumbai remains with Marathi people and not with Gujaratis.

“The Thackeray brothers will win local civic body elections together in all places, including Mumbai, Thane, Nashik, Kalyan, and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar. The Shiv Sena and the MNS are contesting elections to the BEST Employees Cooperative Credit Society Ltd together. While the BEST Kamgar Sena will contest 18 of the 21 seats, the MNS Kamgar Sena will contest two, and the BEST SC/ST Employees’ Welfare Association will contest one seat as part of the alliance. A big march is going to be held in Nashik along with the MNS. Winning Mumbai’s Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) election is our target. The target of Narendra Modi, Amit Shah, and their Gujarati business community is to capture Mumbai. They want to take control of Mumbai and hence the only aim of the Thackeray brothers is that Mumbai should not be handed over to Gujaratis and it should remain with Marathi people,” Sanjay Raut told media persons on Saturday.

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Reacting to BJP leader and Water Resources Minister Girish Mahajan’s statement earlier that the Thackerays must win at least one municipal corporation contesting together, Sanjay Raut said, “Girish Mahajan is not Maharishi Vyas. He should see what is burning under him. He should think about what will happen to him on the day he is not in power. Tomorrow, when the Thackeray brothers unite politically, the thieves and robbers who are around Fadnavis will find it difficult to walk on the streets when they are not in power”.

“I want to tell Girish Mahajan in particular that all the fun you are having today is purely due to looted money. Don’t think that you are Pramod Mahajan. You are Girish Mahajan from Jamner. You should reflect on this and also reflect on what your business is. Then you should talk about Balasaheb Thackeray’s Thackeray family. At present, you have had a narrow escape,” Sanjay Raut said.

Raut also reacted to a statement made by BJP’s Forest Minister Ganesh Naik that Maharashtra Deputy CM Eknath Shinde “won a lottery and he must be able to maintain what he earned”.

“Ganesh Naik said yesterday that Shinde won a lottery for the post of Chief Minister and Deputy Chief Minister, but lottery is a very polite word. Naik might have wanted to use the word ‘matka’ (a form of gambling). Matka numbers are very fickle. The figures of ‘matka’ change constantly. Those who manage the matka figures sit in Delhi. People go to Delhi to manage ‘matka’ figures, but the figures are not adding up. Even the Maharashtra government used to run a lottery, but now ‘matka’ is being played illegally in the state. Illegal ‘matka’ gambling is flourishing under Devendra Fadnavis,” Sanjay Raut said.