Uddhav and Raj Thackeray will contest civic elections together, says Sanjay Raut
Nashik (Maharashtra), Aug 15 (PTI): Shiv Sena (UBT) MP Sanjay Raut on Friday said his party and Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena will contest the coming civic elections in Mumbai and elsewhere together.
"The Thackeray brothers (Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Raj Thackeray) will contest the municipal corporation elections in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Kalyan-Dombivali together and win. The strength of Raj and Uddhav Thackeray is the strength of the unity of the Marathi-speakers. No power cannot break the iron fist of `Marathi manus' now," Raut told reporters here.
Discussions with the MNS for forming an alliance are underway, Raut said.
The BJP, however, dismissed his statement.
Pravin Darekar, a state BJP legislator, said it was unclear whether the two Thackeray cousins had held any talks or it was all Raut's "guesswork".
"We have not seen so much helplessness in Uddhav Thackeray, who did not remember his own cousin, MNS chief Raj Thackeray for the last 20 years," he said.
Maharashtra minister and BJP leader Girish Mahajan said the Sena (UBT) remembers Marathi-speakers only when elections are near.
The BJP received huge support from Marathi voters in the last year's assembly elections and the attempt to mislead them did not work, he said.
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Niqab incident: Nitish Kumar perhaps revealing his true colours, says J-K CM
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.
"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.
"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.
"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.
