For the first time since he began his election campaign for the October 15 Maharashtra assembly polls, MNS chief Raj Thackeray, who had supported Prime Minister Narendra Modi during the Lok Sabha elections, launched a scathing attack on him on Sunday.
Addressing a rally in Mumbai, Raj Thackeray said, “Narendra Modi has become the Prime Minister of the country, but still behaves like he is the Chief Minister of Gujarat state.”
Questioning if Modi is the Prime Minister of Gujarat or India, Thackeray said, “We are proud of him visiting America. But we would have had been happy if the US President Barack Obama had welcomed him in Hindi instead of saying ‘Kem Cho’ in Gujarati. Narendra Modi should be known as the Prime Minister of India and not of Gujarat.”
He further said, “Why is the first bullet train going to run between Mumbai-Ahmedabad and not in some other region?”
Slamming the Modi government for shifting the naval costal guard training centre to Gujarat soon after coming to power, he said, “A few days ago, Gujarat Chief Minister Anandiben Patel invited Mumbai businessmen to Gujarat, asking why they were investing in Mumbai. On the other hand, Modi comes to Maharashtra and talks about development. So what exactly is going on?”
Criticising the BJP for using a Gujarati banner while campaigning in Mumbai, he said, “BJP doesn’t have any face in the state and that’s why they are using Narendra Modi’s photo on banners.”
Raj Thackeray also attacked the Congress saying their leaders wanted power only in their own family. He further questioned why Prithviraj Chavan was quiet when the office of Air-India was shifted to Delhi.
Urging people to give him a chance, he said, “The UPA government helped Narendra Modi while he was the chief minister of Gujarat, then would he not help the MNS if we come to power in the state? I am seeing the world and want to build the state in the same way.”
