No place for 'traitors' in Shiv Sena (UBT): Thackeray takes swipe at rebels

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Saturday said no "traitor" will be given entry into the party after they turn "jobless" in one-and-half months, a reference to the Maharashtra assembly polls likely to be held in November.

The Shiv Sena split in June 2022 after Eknath Shinde led a rebellion against Thackeray, causing the Maha Vikas Aghadi government to fall. Since then, Thackeray and the Shiv Sena (UBT) have routinely referred to Shinde and his band of rebels as "traitors".

Addressing a job fair organised by his party, Thackeray claimed the people of the state will show the BJP and the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena its place in the assembly polls. "After one-and-half months, these traitors (MLAs, MPs who rebelled against the party) will come to us for jobs because they will be jobless. I am not going to give a job to any traitor after the polls," Thackeray said.

In a further swipe at the Shinde government, the former chief minister also said his party, after coming to power, will take "account" of the loot of state resources.

In the backdrop of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Maharashtra during the day, Thackeray said whenever the former lays the foundation stone of a project it never gets complete. No big project has started in Maharashtra after his government was toppled in 2022 due to instability in the state, Thackeray claimed.

Our Hindutva is the one that helps burn the cooking gas, while the BJP's Hindutva is the one that burns down the house, he said in a swipe at his former ally.