One needs 56-inch chest to conduct a surgical strike: BJP's response to Shiv Sena

One needs a 56-inch chest to conduct a surgical strike, the BJP said on Wednesday taking a dig at Shiv Sena President President Uddhav Thackeray, who had challenged its ruling ally to 'strike off' their alliance ahead of the crucial BMC polls in Mumbai.

"They (the Sena) should not talk about surgical strikes. For doing that, you need a 56-inch chest. It was only PM Narendra Modi who could get the surgical strike done because it is only he who has a 56-inch chest. You (the Sena) are not capable of it," BJP Mumbai unit Chief Ashish Shelar told reporters here.

The Sena chief had taken potshots at Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday, asking him to decide a specific leader in the BJP. He had also dared the BJP to contest the upcoming polls separately if it had the courage. "Break the alliance and we will show you our surgical strike," Thackeray had said in an apparent reference to MP Kirit Somaiya's recent remark that BJP was all set to contest BMC polls, due early next year, independently.

Shelar further said that the BJP will continue its campaign against the "mafia raj" prevalent in the Sena-ruled MCGM and that the intensity of the party's agitation against corruption there will only increase henceforth. "They (the Sena) have started it but we will end it. We will respond in a manner in which they understand. We will not go back in our fight against corruption," Shelar said.