Now, Raj Thackeray also snubs Gopinath Munde

NASHIK - After the Shiv Sena rejected Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Gopinath Munde’s suggestion to form a tripartite front with the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, MNS chief Raj Thackeray Wednesday said his party was not interested in alliance with any other group.

Thackeray said the MNS has been an independent group since its inception over two years ago and it has been forging ahead alone in all elections, from parliament to assembly and even to civic bodies.

“We have never made any proposal for an alliance with them (BJP-Shiv Sena). It is their internal issue, one speaks for it, the other says shut up..,” Raj told reporters here.

Taking a dig at the BJP deputy leader in the Lok Sabha, Thackeray said Munde was becoming more “badnaam” (getting a bad reputation) for floating the proposal than the ‘Zandu balm’ fame “Munni”.

The comment was in retaliation to Shiv Sena mouthpiece Saamna editorial Tuesday in which party chief Bal Thackeray said that the 22-year-old Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in the state has served as a soothing ‘Ram balm’ so there is no question of a third ‘Zandu balm’.

The MNS and Shiv Sena’s sharp reactions came a couple of days after Munde again proposed inclusion of Raj Thackeray’s breakaway party in the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance to topple the ruling Congress-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) Democratic Front government in the state.

At the BJP state executive meeting in Aurangabad last week, Munde first floated the suggestion which was rejected outright by Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray.

Bal Thackeray asserted that the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance in Maharashtra was on a strong footing and was not formed with any ulterior motives.

“There are many who are jealous of the 22-year-old flourishing Shiv Sena-BJP saffron alliance in the state and were keen to break it up,” Thackeray said Tuesday in Saamna.

“However, it was not formed with some selfish motives but for the cause of Hindutva,” he added.