For the second time in three days, Bal Thackeray has publicly disagreed with his son Uddhav’s views. The Shiv Sena chief has termed the idea of erecting a Rs350-crore statue of Shivaji in the Arabian Sea “nonsense”, while Uddhav supports the 309-foot memorial planned by the Congress-NCP government. Nephew Raj Thackeray, however, has called it a “waste of money”.
On Friday, the Thackeray patriarch criticised Uddhav’s initiative to conduct interviews of ticket aspirants. “I would not tolerate such nonsense in Shiv Sena,” he said.
In an interview to the party mouthpiece Saamna on Sunday, the Sena chief said: “The idea of erecting Shivaji Maharaj’s memorial in the Arabian Sea is nonsense.” He said there was no need for another statue of Shivaji when one already exists at the “entry to the country — the Gateway of India”.
Thackeray said the proposed memorial was a poll gimmick by the Congress-NCP government in the state. “Sushilkumar Shinde had promised free electricity when he was the state’s chief minister. But he later backtracked, saying such promises had to be made during elections. The same logic applies to the Shivaji Maharaj memorial,” he said.
These comments contradict Uddhav’s recent statement that “Shivaji Maharaj is the pride of Maharashtra. No matter how much money is needed, his grand memorial should come up”.
But Raj shares his uncle’s opinion. “It is not possible to erect the memorial in the Arabian Sea with just Rs350 crore. The government has to reclaim the sea first. The cost will definitely not be under Rs3,000 crore,” he has said.
