Show guts, put me in jail: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray to BJP

CM Thackeray on the last day of the budget session on Friday. File pic

Coming down heavily on the opposition for ‘using the Central agencies', Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray challenged the BJP to put him in jail to retain power in the state. He challenged the former ally to fight him directly instead of raiding his family members and MVA leaders.

CM Thackeray was responding to the opposition's motion, on the last day of the budget session. "Let me come with you… not to share power with you. Put me in jail if you want power. Then inquire as per your convenience," he said in the Assembly on Friday. He cautioned the BJP against troubling Shiv Sainiks who saved Mumbai during the communal riots, because "he was responsible for them". Taking a cue from mythology, he said, when he is put in jail, Krishna will be born (to exterminate evil).

Breaking silence over the ED's action against his brother-in-law, the CM said the opposition had stooped to a new low in defaming families. He asked whether the ED was BJP's domestic help. "Fight me directly if you have the guts. Why raid and defame our families? Have we bothered your families?" he asked. "Indira Gandhi had the courage to declare the emergency, but you have enforced it unannounced," he added.

He questioned the opposition's submission regarding corruption in his government and Mumbai civic body, calling it a baseless and oft-repeated rant. "Based on such information, you ask for the resignation of Nawab Malik." He wondered why the Central agencies were not able to find Dawood. "Malik, supposedly having links with Dawood, has been roaming free and won elections many times and the agencies didn't have a clue about it? What were the agencies doing? Banging utensils?" he said.

He suggested that the opposition leader Devendra Fadnavis be drafted into the R&AW and CBI's service because he said he had provided information to the agencies. He wondered if the BJP planned to use fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim's name for seeking votes. "You asked for votes in the name of Ram. Now, it's Dawood. Did [the then US President] Obama use Osama [bin Laden] to seek votes? He killed Osama in his home in the country. He didn't ask anyone for permission. Why can't you kill Dawood the same way?" he said, reiterating that his Hindutva was hardcore, unlike the parties that sat in power with the leaders who wanted terror convict Afzal Guru pardoned.

He also said that Malik and Anil Deshmukh would be sitting together with the BJP had the ‘early morning experiment' (BJP's government formation with Ajit Pawar) succeeded. He accused the BJP of giving clean chits to those who joined it.

‘No corruption in BMC'

Thackeray said the BMC has done a lot for Mumbai's development. He listed the success of civic schools, healthcare and sanitation facilities, and the COVID-19 care model that was accepted globally. "Did any other state build the jumbo COVID care centres like us? We didn't have bodies floating in the rivers," he said.

He said procurements during the pandemic were done as per the Centre's guidelines and when things were not available, PM Narendra Modi had ensured equitable supply to all the states. The tendering process was done at a short notice because saving lives was a top priority then, he added. "BMC has done a fabulous job. The Dharavi pattern is a glaring example."

The CM said the sewage treatment plant tenders were revised as per the new rules and 60-75 per cent higher bidding was examined by IIT experts who found no fault with the BMC and the process is now being monitored by the Supreme Court.

He said a plot in Dahisar was acquired from a builder after the revenue department assessed the cost. He said the then CM Fadnavis had put a remark on the then opposition leader Dhananjay's Munde's letter that the needful was done. He said the plot will be used for constructing a hospital because even a local BJP legislator wanted it.

He blamed the railways for not transferring its land for the Dharavi redevelopment project and taking the side of Karnataka in a border dispute with Maharashtra. He dismissed the allegation of cost escalation of Rs 10,000 crore in the Metro 3 project in his tenure, saying the proposal was moved by the Fadnavis government. He asked the ex-CM to verify what went wrong then.