Mumbai: Maharashtra Revenue Minister Narayan Rane on Monday launched a fresh diatribe against the Shiv Sena, calling it a "private limited company" and accusing its Executive President Uddhav Thackeray of being instrumental behind the desecration of Meenatai Thackeray's bust at the Shivaji Park last year.
Meenatai is the late wife of Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray, and the alleged desecration of her statue in July last year had sparked off angry protest by Sena men, who had vented their anger by damaging a police outpost near the Shivaji Park.
Rane, who joined the Congress in 2005 after 38 years in the Sena, told journalists at the Vidhan Bhawan that it was Uddhav Thackeray who was instrumental behind the desecration of the bust of Meenatai.
"What should one expect from a person who can go to the extent of desecrating his own mother's bust for political gains," Rane said. When the journalists asked him to present evidence to substantiate his charge that Uddhav was behind the desecration of the bust, Rane said: "I can show the concerned person when needed."
Refuting allegations by Leader of Opposition Ramdas Kadam that he was inciting Congress workers to assault Shiv Sainiks at Katol in Ramtek Lok Sabha constituency, Rane said "the Sena is levelling these charges as they know that they will lose Ramtek seat."
Replying to Kadam's claim that he had desecrated a portrait of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at Katol, Rane said, "It is the Shiv Sena which has done this. I know their modus operandi... After all, I was with them for these many years."
"The Sena has been exploiting public sentiment by using Shivaji Maharaj and the Hindu card. It is Sena which has defamed Maharaj the most," Rane claimed.
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