Mumbai, Jan 9 (IANS) Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena founder Raj Thackeray on Friday claimed that the BJP has exhausted its ideological appeal and is now relying solely on financial power and administrative pressure.

“The BJP has reached a point of ‘political saturation’ and is now surviving on borrowed time,” said the two leaders in an interview in Shiv Sena (UBT)’s mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

In the second part of the two-series interview in ‘Saamana’, Uddhav Thackeray said, “Every product has an expiry date, and the BJP’s brand of politics in Maharashtra has already crossed its. What you see today is not a government; it is a repackaged expired product. They are trying to hide the smell of political decay by spraying the perfume of central agencies (ED/CBI), but the people of Maharashtra have already checked the date. Their time is up.”

On the other hand, Raj Thackeray asserted that the BJP is on “borrowed mandates”.

“The BJP has no original strength left in this state. They are like a person living on a ventilator at other people’s parties. When you start stealing other people’s names, symbols, and families to stay in power, you are admitting that your own brand has expired. The BJP’s expiry date was the day they decided they couldn’t win on their own and had to resort to breaking houses (parties),” he said. He noted that by absorbing leaders from the NCP and Shiv Sena, the BJP has lost its own original character, leading to its “expiry” as a principled party.

They jointly urged the public to “check the label” before the next election, claiming that voting for the current alliance is like “consuming expired medicine” — it will only harm the state’s health.

Uddhav Thackeray further said, “They keep talking about a ‘double-engine’ government. But both engines have rusted. One engine is stuck in Delhi, and the other is derailed in Surat. The expiry date of this ‘double-engine’ delusion is the next election. The people are ready to send this train back to the scrap yard.”

Raj Thackeray said the BJP leaders in Maharashtra have become like hawks sitting on the owner’s hand. “Just as a hawk hunts only when the master releases the hood and gives a signal, these local leaders are waiting for a signal from Delhi to attack their own people. It is tragic that betraying one’s own has become the primary political strategy of this party,” he added.

On the splitting of parties, Uddhav Thackeray stated, “They [BJP] ask what the ‘experiment’ of splitting the Shiv Sena was. It wasn’t an experiment; it was an attempted assassination of a regional identity. They don’t want partners; they want slaves. If you don’t bow down, they use the ‘Surat’ route to kidnap the mandate of the people.”

On the BMC and “capturing” Mumbai, Uddhav Thackeray claimed, “The BJP’s eyes are on Mumbai’s treasury. They are treating the BMC like a colony. At this rate, they will soon lift our Mayors and fly them to Surat or even further. They want to turn Mumbai into a suburb of Gujarat, and they are using local ‘contractor-ministers’ to do the heavy lifting.”

Raj Thackeray accused the BJP of implementing divide-and-rule and caste politics. “The BJP is playing a dangerous game of social engineering, which is actually just social fracturing. They are ensuring that the Marathi Manoos never stand together by fueling fires between different castes. They want us to fight each other so they can quietly walk away with the keys to Mumbai.”

On corruption and “clean chits”, Uddhav Thackeray said, “When they (BJP) were in opposition, they used to carry bags of ‘evidence’ against leaders who are now sitting in their cabinet. Where did those bags go? Did the evidence evaporate the moment they touched the BJP’s flag? This is not a government; it is a laundry service for the corrupt.”

On the “Delhi vs Maharashtra” narrative, Raj Thackeray noted, “There was a time when Delhi feared the roar of the tiger from Maharashtra. Today, the BJP wants to ensure that no leader from this soil stands tall. They want to reduce the Sahyadri to a small hillock that bows before the Delhi Durbar.”

The Thackeray cousins shared a common stance on the perceived threat to Mumbai’s autonomy.

Uddhav Thackeray compared the BJP’s tactics to international interventions, saying, “Just as Donald Trump captured leaders abroad, the BJP wants to capture the Mayors of Maharashtra and take them to Surat.”

Raj Thackeray voiced concerns over “rampant” encroachment in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region, alleging that migration is being weaponised to create an artificial vote bank to dilute the local Marathi influence. He further said, “If we do not stand together today, history will never forgive us. This is not about two parties; it is about the survival of the Marathi identity in its own capital.”

–IANS

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