Member of Aurangzeb fan club: Fadnavis on Uddhav's power jihad remarks

Nagpur: Uddhav Thackeray's remarks against Union Home Minister Amit Shah have established the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader's credentials as a member of the "Aurangzeb fan club", Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said on Saturday.

Fadnavis was reacting to Thackeray's tirade against BJP wherein he termed Shah a political descendant of Ahmad Shah Abdali, the Afghan king who defeated the Marathas in the third battle of Panipat.

"Amit Shah had spoken about the Aurangzeb fan club. Uddhav Thackeray today proved that he is indeed from the Aurangzeb fan club," Fadnavis told reporters.

Addressing a BJP convention in Pune last month, Shah had dubbed Thackeray "the head of the Aurangzeb fan club" who was sitting with people who sought pardon for 1993 Mumbai serial blasts convict Yakub Memon.

Shah was referencing Thackeray severing ties with BJP after the 2019 Maharashtra assembly elections and joining hands with the Congress and NCP (undivided) to form the Maha Vikas Aghadi government, which collapsed in June 2022.

Addressing Shiv Sena (UBT) workers in Pune on Saturday, Thackeray accused his former ally, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), of indulging in "power jihad" by breaking political parties to form a government.

"If Muslims are with us after we explained to them our Hindutva, then we are (according to the BJP) the Aurangzeb Fan Club. Then what you are doing is power jihad," the former chief minister said.