In a veiled attack on MNS chief Raj Thackeray, former Mumbai mayor Kishori Pednerkar on Wednesday said he has “heartburn” as his cousin and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray became the Maharashtra chief minister.

Without naming the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) president, Pednekar said he was bad-mouthing his cousin the same way he was earlier doing against the BJP. Her comments come amid a controversy over the MNS chief’s call for playing Hanuman Chalisa outside those mosques which use loudspeakers for ‘azaan’ (prayer call).

“While being sure that Shiv Sena will not go ahead after (party founder) Balasaheb Thackeray, he (Uddhav Thackeray) became the chief minister of Maharashtra. That heartburn is visible in his (Raj Thackeray’s) action,” Pednekar told reporters at Nashik, about 200 km from here.

She also accused Raj Thackeray of being responsible for late Shiv Sena supremo and his uncle’s “self-torture”. “You were the one who brought ‘Matoshree’ (Uddhav Thackerays’ residence) in trouble. You were the one who hurled stones on our Sena Bhavan. That self-torture to Balasaheb (Thackeray) was seen by the entire world, the country, Maharashtra and Mumbai and still you need Balasaheb,” Pednekar said while replying to a question about Raj Thackeray’s tweet about Balasaheb’s video on loudspeaker issue.

Asserting that the Supreme Court’s decision on loudspeakers came because of Balasaheb Thackeray, Pednekar said that instead of writing letters, Raj Thackeray should forcefully tell the Union government to implement the apex court’s decision about loudspeakers instead of insisting it’s implementation only in Mumbai and Maharashtra.

The former mayor also blamed that efforts were being made to bring troubles for chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, who was praised as “number one” CM in the country. “You focus on improving your graph, but don’t try to erase our lines,” she said while replying to a question on Raj Thackeray’s suggestion to Uddhav Thackeray about choosing between Balasaheb Thackeray and NCP chief Sharad Pawar. She also suggested comparing Maharashtra’s handling of COVID crisis with the governments in other states.

Recently, Raj Thackeray had praised the Yogi Adityanath’s government in Uttar Pradesh over removal of loudspeakers from mosques in that state. “Is everything going to be alright in the country if loudspeakers are removed by creating law and order problems in Mumbai and Maharashtra,” the Sena leader said.

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