BJP had decided to break alliance beforehand: Uddhav Thackeray

Mumbai: Days after Shiv Sena's 25-year-old alliance with BJP snapped in the run-up to October 15 Assembly elections, party chief Uddhav Thackeray today raised "Marathi pride" as its main poll plank claiming that BJP had decided to break the alliance beforehand.

Addressing his first rally here tonight after the bitter break-up between the alliance partners on Thursday, Uddhav said he was not hankering after the chief minister's post.

"But if you are going to challenge me, I will show you that I will contest in your stronghold and become chief minister," he said. Uddhav said that as Sena chief he tried till end to save the alliance.

"I apologise to Maharashtra. It was not Uddhav Thackeray who broke the alliance. I tried till the end to save the alliance," he said.

Refuting reports that he had denied existence of "Modi wave", Uddhav said the reality has changed now. "I never said there was no Modi wave. But today, the reality is different. If there was really a wave, why were there reverses in recent bypolls," he said.

Asking party workers not to remain under the "illusion" of Modi wave, Uddhav said, "the Lok Sabha polls is history. Keep your feet on ground."

Blaming BJP for breaking the "Hindutva" bond, Uddhav said that he had even expressed willingness to exchange some seats as they wanted. "BJP wanted much more seats than we could give. Sena is not a godown. They had decided beforehand to break the alliance," he said.

"You (BJP) have broken the Hindutva bond. The country will not forgive you," he said, adding "When Maharashtra was looking at us with hope, you (BJP) have axed your own foot."

Uddhav said that he did not have any quarrel with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and that his party indeed supported the BJP stalwart. "But even after giving such support, if you (BJP) are going to behave like this, I will show whom the people support," he said.

"If you say I broke the alliance for CM post, I want to say, I broke it for CM post. But let me know, were you seeking more seats for playing marbles in Mantralaya," the Sena chief said.