Rein in Rane: Sena to CM

‘‘Rane carries swords in his official car and threatens Sena supporters. Deshmukh and Patil must rein him in or Shiv Sainiks will also give a tit-for-tat reply,” the Sena supremo said.

Thackeray said the Sena did not want any violence with Rane. ‘‘But enough is enough,’’ he said urging Sainiks to be prepared for a befitting reply. If Rane carried swords in his official car, Shiv Sainiks could at least carry sticks, Thackeray threatened.

In his typical style, the Sena chief asked Sainiks if they k new how to use swords. ‘‘Do you know how to use swords,’’ Thackeray asked to which the crowd said yes. ‘‘Then, be prepared,’’ he told them. ‘‘If we run short of swords, I will start a sword-manufacturing industry,’’ he announced.

Thackeray, who was 40 when he addressed his first Dusshera rally at the same venue in October 1966, spoke for 40 minutes and Rane was the leitmotif of his typically pungent speech.

‘‘How can Narayan Rane finish off Shiv Sena? We will all finish off Rane and do a Bhangra,’’ Thackeray said, reacting to Rane’s threat that he would finish off the Shiv Sena.

Reacting to another charge by Rane that the Thackerays had amassed huge wealth without any official source of income, Thackeray said he only owned his Matoshri residence and a six-acre farm in Karjat. ‘‘If anyone amongst you has any information about me holding property beyond this, come forward with a stamp paper and I will hand it over to you,’’ he said.

There were only two issues apart from the Rane theme in Thackeray’s speech.

He criticised the UPA government for extending help to quake-hit Pakistan even when Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf had refused India’s assistance.

On the issue of non-Marathi population in Mumbai, the Sena chief said Maharashtra Finance Minister Jayant Patil had endorsed his stand recently by saying that ‘‘some Kripashankar Singh would one day become Chief Minister of Maharashtra’’.

Thackeray’s son and Sena’s executive president Uddhav and his cousin Raj were also present.

By-poll: Uparkar vs Rane

MUMBAI: Balasaheb Thackeray on Wednesday announced the candidature of Parshuram Uparkar, Shiv Sena’s Sindhudurg district chief, against Narayan Rane for the Malvan Assembly by-poll on November 19. He, however, did not announce the party candidate for the North-West Lok Sabha seat.

‘‘This has become an emotional issue for the Sena and for me. Priya Dutt is Sunil Dutt’s daughter and he was my personal friend till his death. Now, his daughter wants to carry forward his legacy. This is a very delicate issue. Still, we are searching for a proper candidate,’’ Thackeray said. —ENS