Mumbai, (The HIndu): “Just the way killing cows is banned, speaking lies for the sake of power should also be banned,” said Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray, taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on Tuesday. Mr. Thackeray was speaking at the national executive meeting after being re-elected as the party chief.

Mr. Thackeray questioned the reason behind taking Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Ahmedabad. “The nation would have been proud if he had hoisted the tricolour in Srinagar rather than flying kites.”

Slamming Mr. Modi’s Gujarat election campaign, the Sena chief said the relations between India and Pakistan have come down to such a level that the latter is now being used as a state election topic. “Pakistan had to formally ask India not to drag it in its internal issues,” he said.

Mr. Thackeray also said that despite the PM’s promises of ‘acche din’, soldiers are sacrificing their lives every day and their mutilated bodies are being brought homes. “If Gujarat had a regional party, the people would have preferred it to the BJP and the Congress.”

“However, we only talk about teaching Pakistan a lesson every time. Once and for all, take concrete action,” he said. The Sena chief slammed Union Minister Nitin Gadkari for his remarks on defence personnel. “If you say you are the government and the Army personnel should go to the border rather than making demands, why did you take undue credit for the surgical strikes? Did you even go to the border then?”

Attacking Revenue Minister Chandrakant Patil, who was recently caught in a controversy for praising Kannada language, Mr. Thackeray said the minister is winning ‘lottery’ because of Amit Shah. “I don’t disrespect any language. But I cannot praise another language at the expense of my mother tongue.”

Meanwhile, reacting to the Sena’s decision to go solo in polls, BJP’s city president and MLA Ashish Shelar claimed that his party was ready for an alliance. “We have been maintaining the position that the alliance should take place. If the Sena is boasting about going solo, then let me assure them that the BJP is ready for the challenge. Not only us, but the people of Maharashtra are ready for this. It will harm them,” said Mr. Shelar.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant termed the Sena’s decision laughable and illogical. “The Sena remains an ally in the government, and continues to be critical of its policies. The party has scored a century of announcements to pull out of the government, which it has not done so far. The people do not take the Sena seriously.”