At a press conference at Sena Bhavan on Sunday, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray made it clear that the party would sit in Opposition if the BJP were to take support from NCP to form a government in Maharashtra.
Putting the ball in BJP's court, Thackeray accused the saffron party of abandoning their ideals by considering support from Sharad Pawar's NCP. Thackeray said that it was Sharad Pawar who had first coined the term 'Hindu terror'. He also alleged that Sharad Pawar was the one responsible for the collapse of the 13-day Atal Bihari Vajapayee government in 1996. He then wondered how BJP could take support from such a party.
The Shiv Sena chief claimed that his party would continue to work for the 'preservation of Hindutva' for the protection of Hindus, and never abandon their ideals for a place in the government. He said that though Shiv Sena wanted to keep Hindutva forces together, BJP seemed to have different ideas. In what could be a reference to the MIM, Thackeray warned that 'anti-Hindu elements' were gathering power in Maharashtra and that the Shiv Sena was duty bound to keep such forces at bay.
Thackeray said that former Shiv Sena leader Suresh Prabhu joining BJP was unfortunate. Thackeray implied that Prabhu had turned his back on the late Balasaheb Thackeray by joining BJP, claiming that the late leader had first proposed Prabhu's name as a Union Minister in Atal Bihari Vajpayee's government. Thackeray also took credit for recalling to-be Union Minister Anil Desai from Delhi airport, saying he could not allow Desai to be inducted into the Union Cabinet when the future of the alliance was unclear in Maharashtra.
Thackeray also issued a veiled threat to BJP, stating that he would reconsider being part of the NDA at the Centre if the BJP was uncooperative in Maharashtra.
Apart from this, the Sena chief also announced that Eknath Shinde had been elected leader of the Shiv Sena legislative party, and that a meeting of all newly elected Shiv Sena MLAs had taken place in which they were provided guidance. Thackeray promised that Shiv Sena would serve the needs of all people of Maharashtra, also brushing aside suggestions that any Shiv Sena members had ever met BJP leaders in the near past.
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