‘Ajit Pawar’s remarks on Yogi show Mahayuti not united’: Uddhav Thackeray

There is no unity in Maharashtra’s ruling Mahayuti alliance of the BJP-Shiv Sena-NCP, Shiv Sena (UBT) supremo Uddhav Thackeray said on Friday, after Maharashtra deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, who leads the NCP, objected to the ‘batenge toh katenge’ slogan of Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a BJP member.
“Ajit Pawar’s disapproval of Yogi’s remark shows there is no unity in the Mahayuti. Maharashtra does not need any lesson from the UP chief minister,” Thackeray said at an election rally in Buldhana of the poll-bound state, PTI reported.
Adityanath gave the slogan ‘batenge toh katenge’ (divided we will be killed) in August, days after the ouster of Bangladesh’s then prime minister Sheikh Hasina amid student-led protests. The exit of Hasina, who escaped to India, was followed by attacks on members of the minority Hindu community in the neighbouring nation.
Therefore, the remark by Yogi, who serves as the head priest of the Gorakhnath temple in Gorakhpur, his home turf, was seen by many as a message to Hindus to remain united, and not get divided on caste lines.
On Wednesday, Adityanath made the statement at a poll rally in Washim in eastern Maharashtra. A day later, Pawar, without mentioning the former by name, called him an ‘outsider.’
“Some from outside come here and make statements, but Maharashtra has never accepted any communal division. It belongs to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Rajarshi Shahu Maharaj and Mahatma Phule. You do not compare it with other states, Maharashtra’s people do not like this. Shivaji Maharaj’s teaching was to take all sections of society along,” he told reporters.
Assembly elections for the state’s 288-member legislative assembly will be held on November 20. The counting of votes will take place three days later.