Our mission is Desh Bhakti and Vishwa Shakti, says Maharashtra BJP vice-president Prasad Lad

Prasad Lad, BJP vice-president-Maharashtra unit

The fissures between the Shiv Sena and the Bharatiya Janata Party were thrown into sharp relief once again, with both parties clashing over the BJP's Narayan Rane slapgate issue. The Sena pressed for Rane's arrest over his remark, while BJP claimed there seemed to be an inordinate and unconstitutional hurry to arrest the minister. Stone pelting and scuffles marked clashes on a tumultuous Tuesday. Prasad Lad, BJP vice-president-Maharashtra unit, was at the forefront talking about how Rane was manhandled by the police while he was having lunch. The bigger picture though is tensions between the former allies turned enemies are at boiling point and we may see dangerous escalation as the BMC elections slated for February 2022 near. An interview with Prasad Lad:

With the BMC polls coming up, we see ‘projects' being announced in overdrive. What will be BJP's core area?
We will concentrate on development. What have we seen for the past 25 years? The failure of the BMC on many counts, see the flooding in the city. There were many crores for the clean-up of the Mithi river. What has happened to that money? How many hospitals have been opened since the past three years? We saw at least six hospitals sanctioned in former CM Devendra Fadnavis's tenure.

You claim 25 years of failure but it proves people too have voted for Sena for 25 years...
A lot of those wins have been due to the ‘emotional' Marathi vote. Has the corruption bogey ever been tackled? Clean chits have been given to certain people accused of corruption.

You talk about emotional Marathi vote, but the Sena it is reported is wooing the Gujaratis. They have a slogan, Mumbai maa jalebi fafda, Uddhav Thackeray aapda...
Yes, that khakhra fafda slogan (dismissively). We will see as work always speaks for itself.

Also read: BJP claims threat to Narayan Rane's life; Shiv Sena's reply

The Metro car shed at Aarey was a big flashpoint. The Sena is seen as green saviours with the Kanjurmarg and Aarey car shed controversy
The Shiv Sena hearts do not beat for the environment; this is their ego. When the courts had given the green light for the Metro shed at Aarey, why has this problem held back development? If they were so worried about the environment then why did the Shiv Sena backed Tree Authority of India committee give the go-ahead to chop so many (at least 5,000 in total) of trees in Kanjurmarg, Mulund, for factories and workshops? There has been a delay in Metro work for 36 months and whose money is this? Public money.

Specifically, about COVID, there has been praise in some quarters about how the state govt has handled the situation?
The praise is a ‘spin' by Public Relations (PR) people designed to bolster the image and work of this state govt. Why not talk about the RSS karyakartas who have done excellent work in Mumbai and they were one of the first in Dharavi to do so in COVID times.

The state has accused the Centre of vaccine distribution discrimination. The BJP-led states had more vaccines...
This is passing the buck on to the Centre for your failures. Talk about the vaccine scams.

We gave vaccines outside, and there is a shortage for our own people.
This is wrong, we are part of the UN, we had to give vaccines to the poorer nations. Let us focus on how much vaccine wastage there was here and see who should be accountable for that.

The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) rickshaw govt is on track. It has not derailed...
This is an unnatural alliance, where there is money to be made there is an alliance never mind if thoughts and ideologies are different.

At the National level, several parties are planning to come together to upset the BJP in 2024 elections...
Let them come together. I say let 20 parties come together and make Rahul Gandhi the chief, or Uddhav Thackeray. Our mission is simple: Desh Bhakti and Vishwa Shakti.

The BJP has been accused of continual beating of the communal drum and using religion to create divides, instead of doing real work
We have done a lot of work, what about Article 35A, what about CAA? There is a clamour to bring in a Common Civil Code. On the development front, there have been 1 lakh kilometre roads, Ganga cleaning, 24-hour water, breaking the Dalal (middleman) chain when it comes to farmers, Ujwala Gas Yojana... to name a few.

What does the Taliban takeover of Kabul bode for India. Statements, alarmist though they may seem, are being made about Kabul now and Kashmir later. There are critics that say there have been no investments in Kashmir even after it was stripped of special status.
India is a strong country. Our neighbours know after the surgical strikes that we cannot be trifled with. There will be investments. For these critics, investment may mean money in their pockets, for us, it means money for the good of the nation. The rumour factory may churn overtime, but that does not mean four Taliban fighters can come in and take over here. With Article 370 and BJP action in Kashmir, we have effectively nullified the harmful ‘do nishaan, do pradhaan' policy of earlier. Now, we can only go ahead not just on Kashmir but the entire country.