Thackeray hits out at Gawli in Saamna

MUMBAI, July 19: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today warned the Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS) chief Arun Gawli that those who were using him f...

MUMBAI, July 19: Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray today warned the Akhil Bharatiya Sena (ABS) chief Arun Gawli that those who were using him for their political ends would one day be the cause of his end.

In a scathing editorial in the Sena mouthpiece, Samna, Thackeray warned Gawli that his (Thackeray’s) patience should not be misunderstood as weakness.

More significantly, he asked a pointed question of deputy chief minister Gopinath Munde: “Do you know where this poison is originating from and how it is growing?,” hinting at the urgent need to identify Gawli’s financiers.

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Another sentence in the edit, regarded as the Sena chief’s authoritative word, is a hint at those in top positions in Mantralaya, who are allegedly behind Gawli to weaken the Thackeray family.

Thackeray is obviously rattled at the tolerance that Chief Minister Manohar Joshi and Deputy Chief Minister Gopinath Munde have shown towards a major Akhil Bharatiya Sena event, the morcha organised by the party in the city on Thursday.

But the editorial displays Thackeray’s worry more than his usual fire and brimstone warnings. The writing hits out at all including , the Press (“Will the Press now stop calling Gawli a don after Gawli’s wife threatened the Press?”) and Chagan Bhujbal (“This is all your doing”), Anna Hazare (“who has proved he is fake by inviting Gawli to Ralegan”) and several others.