In a candid confession, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray acknowledged that the Opposition, Mahav Vikas Aghadi (MVA), paid the price for its overconfidence after a strong performance in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.
Thackeray, in an address after the MVA’s drubbing in the Maharashtra Assembly elections, admitted that negligence after punching way above their weight in the general elections caused poor results in the state.
The MVA had helped the INDIA bloc thwart the BJP’s attempt to form a majority on its own in the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, but their momentum faltered when it came to the Assembly polls.
“After the Lok Sabha elections, we got overconfident. After a good performance in the Lok Sabha [polls], there was negligence on our part to assume that we would win Assembly elections. This was used by the BJP to spread a fake narrative against us,” the former Maharashtra Chief Minister claimed.
Uddhav Thackeray reiterated the Opposition’s stance that the EVMs were misused in the Maharashtra elections and threw an open challenge to the BJP to carry out the elections on ballot papers.
“Even those who have won don’t know how it happened. If you have guts, take one election of ballot papers,” Thackeray said.
Thackeray also defended his statements during the election campaign, including his references to being a “deshbhakt.” He clarified that there was nothing wrong in making such remarks, asserting that his intention was to unite people rather than to divide.
He refuted allegations that he had apologised for the 1992 riots, calling them fake news. He recalled how BJP stalwart LK Advani had acknowledged the destruction of the Babri Masjid as a “terrible mistake”.
He added that “deshbhakt Muslims” had embraced the MVA. He challenged the BJP, saying that they should remove the “green colour” from their flag if they were truly concerned about the unity of the nation.
The UBT chief also stressed the importance of respecting Maharashtra’s identity, urging that in the state, one must say both ‘Jai Shri Ram’ and ‘Jai Shivrai’.
“[In Maharashtra] you will have to say Jai Shri Ram and Jai Shivrai. You will have to respect Maharashtra. If Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj wouldn’t have been there, the entire country would have turned green,” he claimed.
In the Maharashtra Assembly elections, the NDA secured a landslide victory with 233 seats, including 132 for the BJP, while the MVA only managed to win 49 seats.