Uddhav backs Rahul, hits back at Modi: 'China will burst crackers if BJP returns to power'

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said even if the BJP opens the door for him, he will not go back to his former ally, accusing the saffron party of sinking his government in 2022 through “treachery”.

Addressing a rally at Alibaug in Maharashtra’s Raigad district, Thackeray claimed if the BJP wins the Lok Sabha polls, crackers will be burst in India as well as in China as there will be a “timid” government in New Delhi.

He slammed the BJP over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s remarks that Pakistan was eager to make Congress MP Rahul Gandhi India’s next PM. Thackeray said the former ally resorts to fearmongering using Pakistan’s name during polls.

Referring to the Poonch terror attack, Thackeray said the PM and Union Home Minister Amit Shah won’t go there, but visit Maharashtra to destroy him.

One soldier was killed and four were injured after terrorists ambushed an Indian Air Force (IAF) convoy in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Saturday, three weeks ahead of polling in Anantnag-Rajouri Lok Sabha constituency.

“Even if the doors are open, do whatever you want. I will not come to you. And there will be no need to come back to you because you will not be there (in power),” Thackeray said, adding that his government was pulled down through “treachery” in 2022.

The Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government in the state collapsed in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde led a rebellion in the undivided Shiv Sena and joined hands with the BJP to become the chief minister.

In an interview to a news channel last week, Modi had said that he would respect Uddhav Thackeray as Shiv Sena founder Bal Thackeray's son and would be the first person to help him if he is in distress.

Thackeray said Modi has only given pain to people till now, but he is ready to campaign for him if people say they are happy with his government's work.

The Sena (UBT) chief said that had the BJP worked for 10 years, it would not have had to engineer splits, referring to the upheavals in Shiv Sena and NCP.

Accusing the BJP of harbouring hatred for Maharashtra, he said that despite giving over 40 MPs to the NDA in 2019, the state was betrayed.

The former Maharashtra chief minister accused the Centre of taking away big-ticket projects to Gujarat and imposing the “ecologically destructive” Jaitapur Nuclear Power Plant project and a refinery project on the state.

On BJP's 400-plus seat call, Thackeray said its confidence is growing and its hunger is insatiable. He also alleged that the BJP wants to change the Constitution after getting a brute majority.

In the Raigad Lok Sabha constituency, which will vote on May 7, the ruling Mahayuti is backing Sunil Tatkare of Ajit Pawar-led NCP against Anant Geete of Sena (UBT).