Aaditya Thackeray takes a dig at uncle Raj Thackeray ahead of polls

Aaditya Thackeray with BJP candidate Manoj Kotak

Ahead of the phase 4 Lok Sabha polls in Mumbai on April 29, 2019, It seems as if the Shiv Sena has been badly stung by the rallies and speeches of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena's (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray. A day after Raj Thackeray toot a rally at Bhandup on April 24, 2019, Yuva Sena president Aaditya Thackeray visited Bhandup on Thursday to join BJP candidate for Mumbai North East Manoj Kotak and blasted his uncle Raj Thackeray's rallies without naming him. Aaditya said that rallies of those parties who do not have candidates in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections are not even considered as rallies and that only functional political parties mattered.

"The opposition can say anything, but rallies are conducted by political parties who are participating in elections and not just any party. The functional political parties know the ground realities of voters as they are connected to the people and there is no Marathi-Gujarati divide as it is made out to be. I have been always appreciative of Kotakji's work since his early days at the BMC and hence called him up this morning and told him I wanted to rally for him. His work culture involves taking everyone ahead with him and his different thoughts on various issues have always impressed me. We should send such people to the Parliament, " the young Thackeray said.

Aaditya Thackeray and Manoj Kotak snapped during their roadshow rally in Bhandup

However, Aditya's visit proved to be half-hearted as he did not conduct any rally and just participated in a road show for a while just to be there. After moving in a vehicle with Kotak in his road show, Aditya appealed to citizens to vote for Kotak but did not address any rally.

"No rally was planned, but it was just a visit to the shakas to garner support to the saffron alliance. He was here to connect with people and encourage the saffron brigade and supporters," Kotak told journalists. Aditya visited Jungle Mangal Road, which is the heart of Marathi vote bank in Bhandup West.

After participating in the roadshow for a few minutes, Aditya then proceeded to Palghar to campaign for saffron alliance candidate Rajendra Gavit where he took a rally.

Aaditya Thackeray greets party workers during the roadshow in Bhandup

Just a day ago, MNS chief Raj Thackeray had staged a rally at Bhandup and stung BJP on the railway victim Monika More case. More had met with an accident at Ghatkopar station and lost her hands after which BJP MP Kirit Somaiya had taken up her issue. Raj Thackeray had said that despite all this Monika remained without a job and read out a government letter assuring her a job.

Responding to this, Kotak on Thursday said that the MNS had taken up the Monika More issue as they had run out of issues and by bringing such issues in the political domain, they were ignoring the real mainstream issues and bypassing the main question of who will give an able and strong leadership to this country.

Raj Thackeray's rallies have been giving BJP and the Shiv Sena a tough time as he seems to have emerged as one of the strongest 'opposition' voices, with crowds gathering to attend his speeches voluntarily.

Sitting BJP MP Kirit Somaiya MNS said, "MMS should not use a 20-year-old girl for political gains. By doing this, MNS chief Raj Thackeray has lost his political height whereas I have got the height raised of 425 suburban platforms in Mumbai.

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