Uddhav Thackeray urges INDIA to convene meeting ahead of assembly election in Bihar and local body polls in Maharashtra
Uddhav Thackeray
has urged INDIA (Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance) to convene a meeting ahead of the upcoming Bihar election and local civic body elections in Maharashtra, noting that such a meeting had not taken place since the last parliamentary election.
The opposition parties had formed INDIA against the BJP for the 2024 parliamentary election, with the Congress serving as the leading member.
While addressing the media outside the assembly on Monday, Thackeray said, "After Lok Sabha election, INDIA meeting needs to take place and I want it to take place at the earliest. There will be an election in Bihar, other states, and in Maharashtra too the local civic bodies elections are coming, for which INDIA meeting should take place."
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It remains to be seen how the other partners respond to his message, considering the ongoing debate on the imposition of Hindi as a third compulsory language from class 1 in Maharashtra. Thackeray also indicated his intention to contest the election alongside the MNS, led by his cousin Raj Thackeray, whose party workers had recently assaulted a shopkeeper for not speaking Marathi.
The undivided Shiv Sena, which had ruled the BMC for over two decades, had split into two factions: Shive Sena led by deputy chief minister Eknath Shinde and Shiv Sena (UBT) led by Uddhav Thackeray.
Thackeray told the media that his party symbol was "stolen" and added that the election commission had no authority to allocate a party name to others, stating, "We had never accepted and will never accept it."
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