Uddhav bats for 'Sena CM'

NEW DELHI/MUMBAI: The BJP on Monday said there is nothing wrong in Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray expressing a "desire" to install a Shiv Sainik as the chief minister of Maharashtra, adding that the reality will be dealt with when the time comes.

In an interview to Sena mouthpiece 'Saamna', Uddhav expressed confidence that a Shiv Sainik will assume the top post in the state and said that he made this promise to his father and Sena founder late Bal Thackeray. "I will not sit silent until I fulfill the promise given to Shiv Sena chief (Bal Thackeray). I will make his Shiv Sainik the Chief Minister. I will not leave politics until this happens," he said.

Last month too, Uddhav had recalled the promise he made to his father in an address to party workers, assuring them that a party leader will assume the top post in the state.

Responding to Uddhav's statement, Union minister and BJP leader Prakash Javadekar today said, "There is no issue in expressing a desire, what will be the reality we will see later."

The Sena is contesting 124 out of the total 288 constituencies in alliance with the BJP, which has nominated candidates for 150 seats. Rest of the seats will be allotted to smaller allies from the BJP's quota.

The Sena chief's son Aaditya Thackeray is entering electoral politics from Worli constituency in Mumbai, and the October 21 state polls are being seen as a litmus test for the party, whether it can bank on the young leader's popularity to win public mandate.

"Aaditya contesting the Assembly election does not necessarily mean I am retiring from active politics. I am very much around," he said.

"I am not going to do farming," he said sarcastically, in an apparent reference to NCP leader Ajit Pawar who recently resigned as an MLA and advised his son to prefer farming or business over politics.

He also claimed that in 2014, when the Sena and BJP snapped ties ahead of the Assembly polls, his party put a check on the 'Modi wave' which had swept the country.

"There is no point in discussing the reasons behind the BJP and Sena contesting (the 2014 polls) separately. It was a war. There was a 'wave' at the national level, but we put a check on it in Maharashtra," he said. "Despite being in power, we have always raised voice for the cause of the common man," he added. (With agency inputs )