'Gang war' has broken out in Maharashtra government, claims former CM Uddhav Thackeray

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Former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray Sunday claimed a "gang war" has broken out in the Maharashtra alliance government and said Prime Minister Narendra Modi should understand that the state BJP unit has "weakened" due to the induction of leaders into it by breaking other parties.

Thackeray's remarks came two days after an incident of firing by BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad on a local Shiv Sena leader (belonging to Chief Minister Eknath Shinde camp) at a police station in Ulhasnagar area of Thane district.

Gaikwad (56), has been arrested. Shiv Sena's Kalyan unit chief Mahesh Gaikwad (40), who was attacked, was in a critical condition.

Addressing a rally at Sawantwadi in Maharashtra's Sindhudurg district, Thackeray said the previous Shiv-Sena BJP government in the 1990s had broken the back of underworld gangs in Mumbai, newswire PTI reported.

"But now, in the present government, a gang war has broken out. The third gang is neck deep in Rs 70,000 crore irrigation scam and hence has no time to raise its head," Thackeray alleged without naming any ally in the Eknath Shinde-led government.

PM Modi should understand that the state BJP unit has "weakened" due to the trend of breaking other parties and the induction of leaders into its fold, he claimed.

Thackeray said he was not opposed to any individual but was against lies and dictatorship.

The country does not need a government with absolute majority but a regime of the INDIA bloc, an alliance formed by various opposition parties, which will take everyone along, he said. "If the BJP wins again in the Lok Sabha polls (due in a few months), there will be no Republic Day next year," he claimed.

Thackeray said PM Modi is making frequent trips to Maharashtra.

"Every time he comes, he takes away something from the state to Gujarat. The Navy Day was celebrated on the Konkan coast in Sindhudurg. The PM came here and then I hear that the submarine tourism project which I cleared when I was the chief minister is being shifted to Gujarat," he claimed.

Notably, the state government has clarified there is no such plan to shift the project.

"Every time the PM comes here he takes away something. He did not come here when the region suffered two cyclones - Tauktae and Nisarg. He gave no financial assistance," Thackeray claimed.

"Do we need such a PM?" he asked the gathering.

Meanwhile, police has booked Maharashtra BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad in a Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act case on Sunday on the complaint of a villager, a police official said on Sunday.

BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad had pumped six bullets into Kalyan Shiv Sena leader Mahesh Gaikwad and also injured the latter's associate Rahul Patil late Friday night inside the cabin of the Hill Line police station's senior inspector in Ulhasnagar in Thane district. The three-time Kalyan East MLA has been charged with attempt to murder and other offences in the case.

"On the complaint of a resident of Dwarli village on Saturday, Ganpat Gaikwad and seven others have been charged under sections of the Indian Penal Code and SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act," a Hill Line police station official said.

As per the complainant, she was subjected to caste-based abuse by Ganpat Gaikwad and the others on January 31. "A probe into the complaint of the woman, who is a land owner, is underway," the station house officer of Hill Line police station said. (With inputs from PTI)