Shiv Sena's Uddhav tying up with 'Ravan's supporters,' mocks Maharashtra CM Shinde

Mumbai (Maharashtra) [India], November 16 : Responding to Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray's letter to the Election Commission on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah allegedly using religion in their election campaigns, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Thursday took a jibe at Uddhav, saying how can he take Lord Ram's name after tying up with those who are supporters of Ravan.
"After tying up with Ravan how can he (Uddhav Thackeray) take Ram's name?" said CM Shinde while speaking to reporters after visiting Kasarwadi sanitation workers colony in Dadar West.
He said that the INDIA bloc, the pre-poll opposition alliance that has been formed to take on the Modi juggernaut in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls, has tied up with the supporters of Ravan.
"The INDIA bloc had tied up with those who are supporters of Ravan. So they should not even take Ram's name," he said.
On the criticism of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) by the opposition parties for using Lord Ram and the Ram Mandir as a tool in their election campaign in the poll-bound states, Shinde said, "When anything is decided against them on the basis of merit, they say that it is wrong, even if it is the Election Commission or the Supreme Court."
Shinde even claimed that if Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray had been alive, he would have thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
"Ram Mandir is the dream of crores of Ram bhakts; it was also the dream of Balasaheb Thackeray. Today, Modi is fulfilling it. We should thank him. If Balasaheb Thackeray had been alive, he would have thanked Modi," the Chief Minister said.
Ram Mandir has taken centre stage in the election campaign of the BJP. From PM Modi to Home Minister Amit Shah, he has accused Congress of halting the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya.
Addressing a public rally in Guna's Raghogarh, Amit Shah promised that the BJP would bear the cost of the darshan of Lord Ram Lalla if its government is formed in Madhya Pradesh.
Earlier, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath had accused the Congress of opposing the construction of Ram Mandir in Ayodhya in the past and said that if the Congress had wanted to build the temple, it could have built it in 1947 itself.
He was speaking at an election rally in Khategaon, Madhya Pradesh. The General Secretary of Shri Ram Janambhoomi Trust, Champat Rai, said on October 25 that the idol of Lord Ram will be installed at the Ram Temple in Ayodhya on January 22, 2024.
The Ram Janmabhoomi Trust has invited Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the consecration of the temple.