US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

Thackeray confident of SS-BJP alliance romping home

Syed Firdaus Ashraf in Bombay

"If I am unable to vote, my vote bank will only increase," claimed Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, adding, "but, I don't like it when some people take advantage of appeasing a particular community and no action is taken against them."

"I didn't like their withdrawing my voting right. Every Indian has a right to vote, so do I. I don't mind even if I am imprisoned but let me vote," he complained.

"When political parties keep saying they will give special status to Urdu and leaders like Arjun Singh go on making promises to the minority community how come no action is taken against them by the election commission?" Thackeray wanted to know.

Thackeray was talking at a press conference organised by the Mumbai Marathi Patrakar Sangh. Senior Sena leaders Subhash Desai, Uddhav Thackeray, Raj Thackeray, party MP Mohan Rawle and former chief minister Manohar Joshi were present at the meet.

"My four elected representatives were disqualified in the name of Hindutva but on the other hand we have parties which exist as Muslim parties and no action is taken against them," he said.

He clarified that he had never given a call for a bandh after his disenfranchisement and that the Shiv Sainiks had protested on their own. However, he added, the anger has cooled down except in places like Kolhapur.

At one point during the press conference Raj Thackeray, his nephew, got up and sat next to Subhash Desai. Thackeray, taking the cue, quipped that there was no longer any rift between Raj and Uddhav (his son, who was sitting two seats away).

Last month, the rift between the two had widened over party matters and it was at the behest of Thackeray that the issue was settled amicably, no doubt the proximity of the elections being a major motivation.

Coming to the question of the issues likely to figure in the upcoming elections Thackeray said there was no dearth of them. "I talk off-hand and at the same time I read a lot. I read nearly 20 newspapers a day. But I always keep away from editorials as I don't want to spoil my thoughts. My issues will be projected in the public meetings and I don't need to elaborate on it now," he said.

Thackeray denied that he had ever tried to woo minorities and dalits during elections. ''Those Muslims who are with us will always be with us,'' he claimed.

He also brushed off a question on the possibility of an alliance between Sharad Pawar's Nationalist Congress Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

However, he did not specify about the number of seats his party was likely to win. He said he was sure that this time neither the Congress nor the NCP would steal a march over his party and its ally.

About the assembly elections he said, "If the BJP gets a majority then they will have their chief minister and if we get the majority we will have ours.''

He also stated that he was satisfied with the alliance government's performance in Maharashtra. Thackeray said that its three major schemes -- four million free houses to slum dwellers, 2.7 million jobs to unemployed youth and the Zunkha Bhakar scheme -- were all a success and that the press had failed to highlight it.

Talking about Sonia Gandhi, he vowed that he will never allow a foreigner to become the prime minister of India. "I have nothing against her but I am not in favour of any foreigner becoming the country's prime minister,'' he exclaimed.

Commenting on the Enron power project, he said, "had I not given the approval to the Enron project the Americans would have imposed sanctions on us and at the same time many more American companies would have withdrawn their ventures from India. So, in the interest of the nation, I continued with the project."

He concluded by saying that during the election campaign all the top leaders in the Shiv Sena will share equal responsibility. Raj will be involved with propaganda through audio cassettes while Uddhav would be taking care of press publicity, he revealed.

PHOTOGRAPHS: Jewella Miranda

Tell us what you think of this report