Kolhapur/Sindhudurg, Dec 1 (UNI) Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said Nationalist Congress party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar never mentioned the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in his speech as he thinks if he took Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's name then it would impact on Muslim votes and it might lose their support.
At a press conference in Sindhudurg Thursday afternoon, Thackeray, who arrived from Kolhapur in Kokan area here as a first step of his Kokan tour, severely criticised Pawar, saying that Pawar in his speech, never mentioned Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's name till date. He was only taking names of Shahu-Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule and he thought if he took Chhatrapati's name then the Muslim community would go away from NCP and would affect the Muslim votes. So with division between Maratha community and the rest of the community he is trying to create two groups in society and their votes (both sides) pocketed, therefore Pawar has no thoughts on Shivaji Maharaj.
Thackeray said Pawar was always avoiding to take name of Shivaji Maharaj while taking only Shahu-Ambedkar and Mahatma Phule names while addressing every meeting till date and raised question why he did not take the name of Shivaji Maharaj. If Shahu-Ambedkar-Phule was a thought then why there was no meaning to Shivaji Maharaj's thoughts. In reality, original base behind the thoughts of Shahu-Ambedkar-Phule was Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
On ongoing feud on controversial statements related Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and its related history, Mr Thackeray said if somebody talked something then it created feud. This caste politics and such feud started from 1999 by NCP since its inception (NCP's), he alleged.
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