Thaindian News

Ahmednagar (Maharashtra), May 31 (IANS) Nationalist Congress Party leader and Maharashtra’s Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar Tuesday launched an attack on Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, demanding to know what the latter had done for society.

Speaking at a public function here Tuesday afternoon, Pawar - nephew of Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar who is a close friend of the Sena chief - said that all his life Thackeray “has sat in his Mumbai bungalow” (Matoshri, in Bandra) and played politics in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji by issuing all kinds of statements.

“What has he actually done for society, for the people and the state?” asked Pawar, who claimed a few months ago that in politics one could not survive without being a tough nut or a ruffian.

Using blunt language, Pawar said all these years Thackeray had not set up a single educational institution, a single factory, a social organization or made any other contribution which could benefit people at large.

“The primary aim of politics and social work is to serve the society and put it on the path of progress and development. The Nationalist Congress Party has set up so many institutions, factories and other organisations which have benefitted farmers, the common people and society,” Pawar declared.

Pawar’s unexpected outburst against the Sena chief was attributed to the recent political developments in the state, starting with the recent decision of prominent Dalit party Republican Party of India (RPI) to join hands with the Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party (SS-BJP) combine.

The NCP retaliated by raking up an old proposal to rename Mumbai’s major railway junction, Dadar, as Chaitya Bhoomi, in memory of Dalit icon B.R. Ambedkar.

The Sena dismissed the NCP move as “playing politics in the name of Babasaheb Ambedkar”.

Pawar Tuesday promptly hit back at Thackeray alleging that the Sena chief has been playing politics in the name of Chhatrapati Shivaji.

Referring to the Dadar renaming issue, Pawar said that a proposal on it would be taken up at the party’s convention on the backward classes scheduled for June 10 in Mumbai.

Incidentally, the SS-BJP-RPI is planning to take out a procession against the ruling Congress-NCP Democratic Front government June 9 to highlight corruption, inflation and atrocities on Dalits.