Sena hails Nitish as Mahanayak

Adding salt to its long-term ally Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) wounds, the Shiv Sena on Sunday hailed Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar as “mahanayak” (super hero), after the grand alliance’s  victory in the state Assembly elections, whose results were announced on Sunday. The Sena addded that defeat “denotes decline of a leader” in an apparent reference to Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Asserting that it will bring in a “new” turn in the country’s politics, Sena leader Sanjay Raut said that if the elections were to be held in Maharashtra now, similar results would emerge.

“BJP fought the Bihar elections under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The party should accept it. Defeat denotes the decline of a leader. If elections are held in Maharashtra now, same results will come like in Bihar,” he said.

He added that elections are fought on the basis of leaders and referred to Congress’ defeat in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls, when its president Sonia Gandhi was held responsible.

“Nitish Kumar has emerged as a mahanayak (superhero). His victory was the need in Bihar. He has done good work in the state. I greet him on behalf of Shiv Sena. The results in Bihar will bring a new turn to politics of the country,” he said.

Meanwhile, Sena supremo Uddhav Thackery called JD-U leader Nitish Kumar and congratulated him for his resounding success in the Assembly elections.

“Uddhavji telephoned Nitish Kumar on Bihar win, congratulated him and called it a victory of his leadership qualities,” said a Sena leader quoting Uddhav.

“You worked a lot and did good job to convince the voters and this is why people of Bihar expressed their faith and mandated you once more to govern,’ the Sena chief said.

Uddhav also conveyed Diwali greetings in advance and wished Nitish Kumar to run a smooth government in the state that would pave the way for development in Bihar.

The Shiv Sena and the BJP, who are running a coalition government in Maharashtra, have been at loggerheads for the last few days. Last month, the Sena had agreed to disrupt   Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s show in Mumbai, while Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis invited the mastero for a performance in the state and promised fool-proof security to him.

The other incident, which bore open the strained relationship between the allies, was when some Sena workers smeared ink on the face of Observer Research Foundation chairman Sudheendra Kulkarni ahead of the launch of former Pakistan foreign minister Khursheed Mahmud Kasuri’s book ‘Neither a Hawk, Nor  a Dove: An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Relations’.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray also congratulated grand alliance leaders Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav, and described their win in the Assembly elections as a “victory for politics of regional pride”.

“It’s a victory for the politics of regional pride, development and social justice. I feel that development of Bihar should happen so rapidly that Biharis will stop migrating to Maharashtra and other states,” he said. “Migrant Biharis from all states must aspire to go back to their own state,” the MNS chief said.