Published 19:08 IST, November 11th 2019
VIRAL: Time when Aaditya Thackeray compared Cong-NCP to 'Ravan raj'
Aaditya Thackeray had shared a photo of Ravan effigy in 2014 with faces of top Congress-NCP leaders of then ruling Prithviraj Chavan government in Maharashtra.
Aaditya Thackeray along with Shiv Sena leaders Anil Desai and Eknath Shinde reached the Raj Bhavan on Monday to the meet Maharashtra Governor as its deadline expired to form a government in the state, and then confirmed that the party was in touch with both Shiv Sena and Congress. While he went on to add that the two parties hadn't yet given the Shiv Sena their backing and that more time had been sought from the Governor, the very admission that talks were on is a drastic shift from the time when Aaditya compared the previous Congress-NCP government of Prithviraj Chavan as 'Ravan Raj' and lit an effigy of alliance leaders during Dusshera. Here's the 2014 tweet:
Ravan effigy burned with Congress-NCP leaders' face
The effigy of demon king Ravan had ten heads with then-deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar's face at the center. Others faces on the effigy included Congress leader Sushil Kumar Shinde, NCP leaders RR Patil and Chhagan Bhujbal among others. All had held important portfolios in the Chavan cabinet in Maharashtra. The Shiv Sena-BJP had fought the 2014 Assembly elections separately but later joined hands to form a government. During their then election campaign, the two parties had leveled various corruption charges against the Chavan government.
Uddhav for CM?
Meanwhile, as per sources, the Shiv Sena leaders have told Maharashtra Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari on Monday that party supremo Uddhav Thackeray is the main contender to be the next Chief Minister of Maharashtra. This comes after hectic parlays in the Shiv Sena, NCP, and Congress camps to forge an alliance for the government formation in the state. Shiv Sena MP Sanjay Raut has also been repeatedly asserting that the next CM would be from his party.
Updated 19:58 IST, November 11th 2019