In an apparent bid to get even with the Shiv Sena for lampooning him often in its mouthpiece Saamna, Shiv Sainik-turned-Congress leader Narayan Rane on Friday lambasted Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray and Saamna executive editor Sanjay Raut for saying that Maharashtrian voters had let the Sena down in the polls.

Rane’s signed opinion piece in Prahar, a Marathi daily he runs, also has a cartoon showing Bal Thackeray agreeing to Uddhav’s view that Maharashtrian voters were responsible for the Sena’s defeat.

Referring to Saamna editorials that appeared for three days from October 23 (analysing Sena’s debacle), Rane asks, “Do you think Marathi manoos are bonded labourers?”

“If you say young voters are not aware of Sena’s struggle and Maharashtra’s history, it is the failure of the new leadership,” Rane writes. “This is Uddhav’s defeat. He is politically immature and lacks vision and capability to inspire workers. By blaming people he has thrown the party’s future into darkness. He has ruined the party in front of Saheb (Bal Thackeray).”

Rane states that even people like Bala Nandgaonkar (from MNS) who got elected by defeating Sena candidate Dagdu Sakpal were Maharashtrians and that it was illogical for the Sena to say that votes for the Marathi cause meant votes for its candidates.

He claimed that while the Sena harped on the ‘Marathi’ cause, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation it rules was doling out contracts to non-Maharashtrians.

Rane has reiterated allegations he had made when he revolted in the Sena in 2005 that money plays a role in organisational appointments and distribution of ticket. He writes: “Which company does Uddhav run to be able to afford cars like Mercedes and BMW?”

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