Nagpurians will beat you with shoes, BJP to Uddhav

Nagpur: Reacting to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray’s remarks against deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis purportedly insulting him, Maharashtra BJP president Chandrashekhar Bawankule on Tuesday said that Nagpurians would not just beat him with footwear if he repeats such utterances but also make it impossible for him to move around anywhere in the state.Asserting that BJP would give ‘Eit ka jawab patthar se’ (tit for tat reply), Bawankule said party workers would not tolerate personal attacks on Fadnavis from a “zero performer”.A defiant Thackeray, however, stood by his comments while accusing the BJP of maligning opposition parties and then joining hands with them. Bawankule’s warning was in response to Thackeray’s comments against Fadnavis on Saturday when he called the latter a “blot on Nagpur”. His comments led to outrage among BJP workers. In the evening, BJP legal cell lodged a complaint with Sitabuldi police accusing Thackeray of making “derogatory remarks” against Fadnavis with an ulterior motive of instigating people and disturbing peace.On the other hand, Shiv Sena led by former MP Prakash Jadhav filed a complaint against Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha workers for tearing Thackeray’s poster and applying black paint on it. “If Thackeray has lost mental balance, he should go to a mental hospital. There is one on Koradi Road in Nagpur. If you talk about our leader from now on, we will not let you go scot free. Right now we are only protesting on the streets, as we are part of the government and do not want to create law and order problem. Our workers had decided to stop you yesterday itself, but I stopped them,” said Bawankule, who was flanked by BJP city president Pravin Datke, MLA Krishna Khopde and others.Narrating Fadnavis’s journey from youngest corporator to second-youngest CM of Maharashtra, Bawankule questioned Thackeray’s credentials. “Nagpurians would beat you with shoes if you dare to utter any such comments against our leaders. A few people had thrown ink on Chandrakant Patil in December last year. This act could have been replicated here also. We can also resort to ‘joote maro andolan’ (beat with footwear drive) if Thackeray commits the same mistake,” he said.Listing out the former CM’s achievements, Bawankule said it was limited to being Balasaheb Thackeray’s son till the age of 29. “Later, his world was his father, wife and camera. At 60, his achievements include being unsuccessful CM and his son a minister by betraying the mandate and 13 crore people. He also granted protection to jihadis and Naxalites,” said Bawankule.The state BJP chief also accused Thackeray of making statutory development boards and Marathwada water grid defunct. He also stopped Jal Yukta Shivar scheme started by the BJP government. “He sat in the lap of those (Rahul Gandhi) who insulted freedom-fighter Vinayak Savarkar. Thackeray is the blot on Maharashtra and he has always acted against the interest of the people. Fadnavis worked day and night to bring OBC and Maratha reservations and to set up metro and other projects across the state,” he said.