Kolhapur (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Wednesday said the Narendra Modi government has betrayed Maharashtra, and he apologises to the people for seeking votes for the prime minister in earlier elections.
Thackeray and his Maha Vikas Aghadi ally and NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar spoke at a rally at Ichalkaranji in Kolhapur district of western Maharashtra in support of Shiv Sena (UBT) candidate from Hatkanangale constituency, Satyajit Patil.
Talking about the circumstances in which his government fell in 2019, Thackeray said the Supreme Court had not delivered its verdict on whose Shiv Sena was the real one, but the "Election Commission and the arbitrator (Maharashtra Speaker Rahul Narwekar) who were working as their (BJP's) servants, gave their verdicts."
"Now when PM Modi calls us fake Shiv Sena, he is putting pressure on the court," Thackeray said. Sharad Pawar said that Modi, during visits to Maharashtra, only criticises him (Pawar) and Thackeray instead of speaking about his plans for the state. Pawar also accused the Centre of misusing central agencies and pointed to the arrests of Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal and former Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren in alleged corruption cases.
Thackeray said when no one was willing to join hands with the BJP, the Shiv Sena formed an alliance with it. The saffron party, however, brought down the government of a man whose family had given it everything, he said, referring to the fall of his government in June 2022. "I apologise for seeking votes for Modi (in the past) because his government has betrayed Maharashtra," the Sena (UBT) chief added.
He also accused the BJP of using the Shiv Sena in the Lok Sabha elections but scheming to defeat its candidates in assembly polls. "You used Shiv Sainiks (in Lok Sabha polls) but defeated our candidates (in assembly polls). I have come to avenge it," said Thackeray who parted ways with the BJP in 2019. Thackeray and Pawar also shared the stage at a rally in Kolhapur city for Congress candidate Shahu Chhatrapati.
Pawar said on the occasion that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru spoke about the country when he visited the states, while Indira Gandhi would talk about poverty alleviation. "But this PM can not rest till he targets Uddhav Thackeray and Sharad Pawar. I want to tell Modi ji, however may you criticise us and bypass important issues facing the state and the country, the people of Maharashtra will teach you a lesson," he said. Hitting out at Modi for calling Pawar "wandering soul," Thackeray in his speech recalled that Atal Bihari Vajpayee had praised Pawar's disaster management skills.
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Aizawl (PTI): Mizoram recorded a pass percentage of 87.67 in the class 12 board examinations on Wednesday, with boys scoring marginally higher than girls,
Across the Arts, Science, and Commerce streams, boys secured an 87.7 per cent success rate, while girls followed closely at 87.66 per cent, according to the results published by the Mizoram Board of School Education (MBSE).
Of the 12,243 students who sat for the examinations held between February and March, 10,734 passed, 1,394 could not, and 115 qualified for compartmental examinations.
Academic performance was strongest in the Commerce stream, which saw a 90.51 per cent success rate among 759 candidates.
The Science stream followed with 89.24 per cent pass rate out of 2,770 students who appeared for the exam, while the Arts stream, with 87,14 students, recorded a pass percentage of 86.93.
In terms of institutional performance, the results revealed that deficit schools, which receive regular government grants, maintained their status as top performers with an average 93.80 per cent pass rate across all streams, followed by private schools at 91.55 per cent, while state-run schools recorded a success rate 83.13 per cent.
