No-Trust Motion: Sena compares Modi to France, Rahul Gandhi to Croatia

In yet another U-Turn by the Shiv Sena, the Hindutva warriors drew parallels between the Monsoon Parliament Session and the FIFA World Cup Final. Sanjay Raut, MP and spokesperson of the Shiv Sena said that even though Narendra Modi won the match like France, Rahul Gandhi won hearts like Croatia.

The BJP enjoyed a comfortable majority in the lower house,  and the No Confidence Motion pushed by the Opposition met with defeat. Sanjay Raut said, “In the football World Cup final, France won (the title), but Croatia is remembered for the manner in which they played. Rahul is now being talked in the same way. When one plays such politics, he moves four-five steps ahead,” Shiv Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said. The Shiv Sena -BJP alliance has been on rocky grounds since a long time, as the allies don’t see eye-to-eye on several issues. The Shiv Sena vehemently opposed the proposal of Mumbai-Ahmedabad bullet train, demonetization and the land acquisition. BJP’s oldest ally Shiv Sena, embarrassed the government by their no-show in the Parliament yesterday for the No-Confidence Motion.

Sena, which has been the most cantankerous ally of BJP said in a statement that Rahul Gandhi has shed his ‘pappu’ image and that he has finally come of political age.

When the BJP attacked Gandhi for his prime ministerial ambitions in the run up to the Karnataka assembly elections, the Sena had once again supported Gandhi.

Mr Raut said the Congress president’s hug to the prime minister at the end of his speech was actually a shock for Narendra Modi.

“This wasn’t a hug, but a shock to PM Modi,” Mr Raut said, brushing aside criticism leveled by his critics. “People say this is drama but there is drama in politics,” Mr Raut shot back. Shiv Sena too had stunned the BJP on Friday when it decided, at the last moment, against participating in the no-trust vote.

The Sena’s stand had the BJP run helter-skelter for support, especially since top ministers in the government had been claiming that the Shiv Sena would vote along with the BJP after party boss Amit Shah reportedly called Uddhav Thackeray on Thursday.

Mr Raut credited his party chief Uddhav Thackeray for the bold decision. “Shiv Sena took a decision. You need courage, guts to take such a decision, Uddhav Thackeray has demonstrated that he has it,” he said. The Sena, the oldest NDA ally, partners with the BJP in the Maharashtra government and the central government.

The decision to remain absent in Friday’s No-Confidence Motion session of the Parliament coincided with an all-out attack in the Sena mouthpiece Saamana, which carried an editorial saying: “Those ruling the country are butchers, who save animals but kill humans.” Uddhav Thackeray’s overnight change of stance and decision to abstain was conveyed to party legislators in the morning at a meeting held in parliament.

“Shiv Sena is the party which always follows directive of party chief. We have decided to take a principled stand after the government made so many mistakes on land acquisition, demonetization,” the Sena’s Anandrao Adsul had told NDTV earlier on Friday. The Shiv Sena has repeatedly said that it will be fighting the 2019 election alone.

Also Read: Shiv Sena’s tiger cowers on day of no-confidence motion in Parliament