Developments in NCP won't impact MVA, says Uddhav

The government headed by this alliance ruled Maharashtra from November 2019 to June 2022.MVA leaders earlier expressed shock over Pawars decision and said his guidance was needed at this juncture.

Uddhav Thackeray, who heads a faction of the Shiv Sena, on Thursday expressed confidence that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) president Sharad Pawar's decision to step down as the party chief will not dent the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) alliance.

Addressing a press conference here, the former Maharashtra chief minister assured that he will not do anything that hurt the opposition alliance's unity.

Thackeray also said he was not opposed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi but was against dictatorship, and urged all political parties to come together to defeat it.

''The developments in NCP won't dent the MVA,'' Thackeray said.

He, however, declined to comment on Pawar's decision to step down as the party chief.

Pawar on Tuesday sprang a surprise as he announced his decision to step down as the NCP president, jolting his party and the opposition alliance.

The Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), NCP and Congress are partners in the MVA. The government headed by this alliance ruled Maharashtra from November 2019 to June 2022.

MVA leaders earlier expressed shock over Pawar's decision and said his guidance was needed at this juncture. Pawar was instrumental in the formation of the unlikely alliance of his NCP, Congress and their then ideological foe Shiv Sena in 2019.

On PM Modi, Thackeray said, ''My fight is not against any individual, but the tendency. This is why leaders of all political parties and people should come together to defeat dictatorship.'' Slamming the PM for urging the people of Karnataka to say 'Jai Bajrangbali' when they cast their vote to ''punish'' the Congress for its ''culture of abuse'', as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) stepped up attack on the opposition party over its election manifesto promise of banning the Bajrang Dal.

Thackeray said his father Bal Thackeray's voting right was revoked for talking about Hindutva in an election speech in 1987.

He also wondered that if the PM has given the call to say 'Jai Bajrangbali', then there must be some change in the election law on religious propagation.

''If the PM is asking to chant 'Bajrangbali ki Jai' while casting vote, then I urge mothers and sisters of Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra to give a cry of 'Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj ki Jai' or 'Jai Shivrai' to show the unity of Marathi 'manoos' (person),'' Thackeray said, alleging that whichever government comes to power in the southern state it resorts to ''linguistic persecution''.