Mumbai: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray on Friday
said that the Mumbai civic poll results have shown that the city
cannot be separated from Maharashtra.
"The results in Mumbai and Thane (won by Sena-BJP
combine) show that Mumbai cannot be separated from
Maharashtra," he said in a statement published in party
mouthpiece 'Saamana'.
"I don't have words to thank the voters. There were
attempts to encircle us, both from those from our home and
outside," he said in an apparent reference to his estranged
nephew Raj Thackeray and political opponents.
The Sena chief also lambasted a "section of media", who
he said, were maligning the party's image through defamatory
articles at the behest of some leaders.
In an editorial in a Marathi newspaper, Thackeray also
targeted Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan over his comments
that Shiv Sena would be rendered "inconsequential" after the
polls.
"Where is Chavan now? Now, he is hiding his face...Nobody
was successful in removing the 'saffron flag' from Mumbai and
Thane corporations," he said.
Overcoming anti-incumbency factor and stiff challenge
from Raj Thackeray-led MNS, the saffron combine has retained
power in the prestigious Mumbai civic body and neighbouring
Thane Municipal Corporation polls.
PTI
First Published: Saturday, February 18, 2012, 13:30