BJP only knows to snatch, we will end its 'chor bazar' in polls: Uddhav Thackeray ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024

Uddhav Thackeray. File Pic

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) was never part of any movement or struggle nor had it created anything of its own but only knows how to snatch from others, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray said on Sunday, ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024, reported news agency PTI.

He was addressing party workers in suburban Mumbai.

"The BJP was not part of the freedom movement, the Sanyukta Maharashtra struggle or the Marathwada Mukti Sangram. It only knows to snatch. We will destroy BJP's 'chor bazar' in polls. It has seen our friendship. Now BJP will see the heat of our 'mashaal' (poll symbol lighted torch)," he said, reported PTI.

Ahead of Lok Sabha elections 2024, Thackeray asked Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation officials to not be part of the BJP's "corrupt activities".

Thackeray reiterated that Amol Kirtikar will be his party's candidate for the Mumbai North West Lok Sabha seat. He is the son of sitting MP Gajanan Kirtikar, who is part of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, reported PTI.

Thackeray's announcement a day earlier had drawn an angry response from Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam, who had contested the seat unsuccessfully in 2019.

Even though seat-sharing talks between the Maha Vikas Aghadi partners remain inconclusive, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday announced that Amol Kirtikar would be his party's candidate from the Mumbai North-West Lok Sabha constituency.

Thackeray announced Amol's candidature while addressing party workers in the constituency, though the talks among MVA partners (Sena (UBT), NCP (SP) and Congress) are still going on.

Earlier, Thackeray dared the ruling BJP to hold elections to the assembly and municipal corporations along with the Lok Sabha.

Besides Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the BJP's first list of Lok Sabha candidates also included Kripashankar Singh, he noted, claiming that the saffron party had once accused Singh (who was then with the Congress) of money laundering and possession of disproportionate assets.

In 2019, the BJP fielded a former Congress worker who went on to defeat (then Congress candidate) Jyotiraditya Scindia in Guna, but now this worker has been dumped and Scindia has been given the BJP ticket, Thackeray said.

(With inputs from PTI)