- 12 minutes ago
Speaking at the India Today Mumbai Conclave, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader and Worli MLA Aaditya Thackeray strongly criticised the Election Commission and the BJP-led government over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls. Pointing to alleged widespread omissions of legitimate voters, he stated, "Gyanesh Kumar will have to go," asserting that the opposition is determined to reclaim democracy. Thackeray defended his support for civic and grassroots demonstrations, arguing that public movements reflect genuine national concern rather than mere party politics. Reflecting on broad governance and public works, he claimed, "This has been the lost decade for India," pointing to persistent infrastructure flaws, economic setbacks, and unfulfilled agrarian relief packages in drought-hit regions of Maharashtra. Addressing party defections, Thackeray expressed complete confidence in the endurance of his political legacy, asserting that future elections will reward cleaner, public-focused representatives.
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00:00Namaskar, hello and welcome to the India Today Mumbai conclave, where, as has been the tradition
00:07over the last few years, we have someone who seems to go younger by the day, seems to keep
00:15fit and young, even though, if I may say so, you are out of power and not in power anymore.
00:22Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Shiv Sena leader, the gen next of the Shiv Sena,
00:28Aaritya Thakre. You want to tell us what keeps you, you look much the same over these years,
00:37out of power, in power, your fitness regime remains the same, you have more time perhaps
00:43now that you are out of power to stay fit? No, I am just wondering who was sitting on this
00:48chair before me and trying to get cozy in the chair again. Mr. Fadnavis has also lost weight,
00:54you know, we had, so he has lost weight but gained politically, you seem to have lost weight
01:02but lost politically. I mean, the whole point is this, that you do not get attached to power,
01:08you do not get attached to positions. You said you are looking younger, maybe, but I just
01:14try to, you know, keep my running around going on. That's it, not even running, just running
01:19around, meeting people, reach as much as possible and not take victories and losses to your heart.
01:25I think that's the most important thing.
01:27Let, you know, let's get straight to the politics. Since we last met, there have been two major
01:32blows that the Shiv Sena suffered. Your parliamentary party split and most of the MPs have gone over
01:40to the Shiv Sena Shinde group. And crucially, you lost the Mumbai municipal election where you had
01:48controlled the BMC for almost three decades. Would you agree, therefore, that the Shiv Sena UBT
01:55is facing an existential crisis? This is a crisis of, will the Shiv Sena of the Thakre family survive or
02:06not?
02:07Rajsev Ji, again, I would not want to make it all about ourselves. This is not about Shiv Sena,
02:11this is not about us. This is about the country, this is about democracy, this is about your vote,
02:16my vote and the voice and the right that we have to vote. The crucial point here is, if you
02:23see now
02:23what's happening in Delhi, if you see what's happening across the country, we spoke about vote
02:27churi two, two and a half years ago. Probably we're the only party that's been speaking about EVM
02:31since the year 2008-2009 and we've remained constant on that. But Cholol, let me just bring
02:36you to the fact of what has been exposed. During the Lok Sabha elections, between the Lok Sabha and
02:42the Vidan Sabha, you saw 45 lakh voters increasing in a span of four months in Maharashtra. The results
02:49came out as they were, the difference between the Lok Sabha and the Vidan Sabha, you saw it was for
02:53everyone to see. But to give you one figure for Mumbai, when we started working on vote churi,
02:59was in Mumbai when you had voters up to almost 1 crore 31 lakh people who were electors or voters
03:06in Mumbai. When we started going into the depths of it, we found that almost 30 lakh voters were
03:12fraudulent. 30 lakh out of 1 crore 31 lakh. 30 lakh voters were fraudulent or you had duplicates,
03:18you had people who were non-existing, you had people who were shown above the age of 100 but dead,
03:22long gone, all of these. 30 lakh voters who were sort of fraudulent or problematic. Taking
03:28this thing ahead, we started doing a deeper study, of course, moving towards BMC because
03:33that is something we obviously wanted to win, like we wanted to win the Vidan Sabha and the
03:36Lok Sabha. We gave a list of 17 lakh voters to the election commission in Maharashtra, in
03:43Mumbai, saying these are fraudulent voters. These names, for example, Rajdeep Sardesai has
03:48appeared five times in this electoral list, please get it cleaned. They put their hands
03:53up, saying, sir, we can do what we can do. The list of the top of the list, we have
03:56to
03:57follow them. 17 lakh voters. Going beyond that, the BMC elections, if you see our performance,
04:03we've won 65 seats, right? A precursor to that or just a background to that was in the last
04:09four years. Ek Nath Chinde or the BJP took away 54 of our sitting operators. 54. They took
04:17away hundreds of our workers below Shaka Pramukhs. And yet, the BJP only marginally increased from
04:2382 to 89 and we've remained at 65. I mean, we were at 89 but we've come to 65 despite
04:30money
04:31power, despite every other agency going against us. We've remained at that. So that is the trust
04:37of Mumbai in the name Uddho Bada Sab Thakre. And I think that remains so.
04:40No, no. Two questions arise from what you have said. One, very clearly, if you say that there
04:46have been a large number of... In fact, in fact... No, no, one minute.
04:48One second. Rajdeep Sardesai, let me just add something here. This afternoon, I may be doing
04:53a press conference. Please do cover it because there is something more coming out on vote chori,
04:57some startling details. No, no. So, you know, this whole vote chori that you're talking about,
05:01you're saying there is vote chori but you're also saying in the same breath that there have
05:05been a large number of fraudulent, duplicate voters in Mumbai itself. Right? Election
05:09commission is saying we are cleaning up the rolls. We are removing those very same duplicate,
05:15fraudulent voters in a city like Mumbai. What's wrong with that?
05:19Do you want to wait for the people?
05:20No, no. Do you want to wait for the people?
05:21I'll tell you what. I'll tell you what. I'll tell you. My hope, my hope was genuine in SIR.
05:26We thought that the SIR would clean up the list.
05:30Yes.
05:30But today what we are seeing are some startling details where lax and lax of voters who have
05:35voted in 2002, who have voted in 2007, who have voted in 2009, who have voted in 2014,
05:40who have voted in 2019, who have voted in 2024, who have voted right now in 2026 have
05:47been omitted from the list. Lax and lax of voters. The SIR, if conducted properly, would
05:53have been a huge boon for India. But today, as it goes, and you've seen our election commission
05:58also, he's also made a formal complaint with the ECI saying, give us the authority to take
06:04call at the local level. EROs don't have power.
06:06So let's be very clear. You're saying you're not against the SIR. You want an SIR. You want
06:12a clean up of the roles. You're saying the manner in which it's been executed with lax
06:17of voters losing out at the moment on a draft electoral roll, mind you only, it's the execution
06:22you have a problem with, not with an SIR per se. Am I correct?
06:26I think that's what everyone's saying. Everyone wants a clean list.
06:28No, no, no. I'll tell you why.
06:30There are those who are saying we want a pre-SIR. The Kaukrut Janata Party is saying,
06:35please go back to electoral rolls pre-SIR. The Congress is saying, suspend the entire SIR
06:40process. Is that what you're saying also?
06:42I'll tell you why. I'll tell you why everyone's saying this. Because the special intensive revision
06:46is supposed to be carried out in special times. One. Two, if you genuinely believe that
06:51a special intensive revision is supposed to be carried out right now, conduct it in a
06:56clean, clear, fair, and fearless manner. Why are you going by the dictates of the BJP?
07:01Why is Gyanish Kumar serving the BJP and not the country? This is Deshdrui. And this is
07:08what everyone's against. Bring someone like Mr. TN Session. Bring someone like Tukaram Munde.
07:13Okay. Hold us accountable if you want to. But conduct an SIR which is free and fair.
07:17Today what is happening is an exercise that is happening for the benefit of the BJP by
07:22Gaddar, Gyanesh, and Seema Khanna. That is what everyone is against.
07:26No, no. You know, let's be very clear. You're saying bring back a TN Session-like figure to
07:32head the post of Chief Election Commissioner. The BJP says even when there were Chief Election
07:40Commissioners during the Congress rule at the center, those Election Commissioners according
07:45to the BJP were beholden to the Congress government. The problem is the manner in which Election
07:50Commissioners in this country are chosen. So, I mean, let's be very clear. Is this about
07:56an individual or an institution? You have, does Aditya Thakre have faith in the Election
08:02Commission, yes or no?
08:03No, not the current one. I've seen the working of the current Election Commission. I do not
08:07have faith in the current Election Commission. Two, about what the BJP says about, tab aise
08:11tha, ab aise hai, ab pelle aise tha. There have been so many people that the BJP has accused
08:14of scams and whatnot and taken them into the BJP and made Chief Ministers and Deputy Chief
08:18Ministers. How can you trust the BJP?
08:20Mr. Aditya Thakre, if you're coming here and saying that you have no faith in the Election
08:24Commission under Gyanesh Kumar or Gyanesh Kumar as Chief Election Commissioner and he carries
08:29on in the elections, he will go. Will you boycott the, no, no, he will go. I want a
08:34clear answer. Will you boycott an election tomorrow if Gyanesh Kumar carries on as the
08:38Chief Election Commissioner?
08:39Mr. Gyanesh Kumar will go. Let's not go into ifs and buts. Gyanesh Kumar will have to
08:42go.
08:42Mr. And what if he doesn't go?
08:44Mr. Let's not go into ifs and buts. He will have to go. We are reclaiming democracy
08:47from an autocratic regime and we will do that.
08:51Mr. No, I want again, you see, because this sounds very, you know, the audience will clap.
08:58Mr. And they will come out on the streets with us.
08:59Mr. The Modi government and the BJP has made it very clear. There is no reason for Gyanesh
09:04Kumar to go. According to them, he's cleaning up the rolls. He's taking out, according to
09:09the BJP, illegal infiltrators from the country. Why should he go? The opposition loses elections.
09:15Mr. Instead of getting their act together, they are blaming vote churi.
09:18Mr. I have two simple questions for the BJP. One, why are you defending the Election Commission?
09:24Mr. Every time a question is pointed towards the Election Commission, the saltiness comes
09:27from the BJP.
09:28Mr. Because you are attacking the BJP.
09:29Mr. And two.
09:29Mr. You are saying Gyanesh Kumar is hand in club with Prime Minister Modi.
09:32Mr. So now you are saying Gyanesh Kumar is BJP.
09:33Mr. Sorry?
09:34Mr. Are you saying Gyanesh Kumar is BJP?
09:36Mr. No, no, you are saying Gyanesh Kumar is hand in club with the BJP.
09:39Mr. Of course I am saying, the whole country is saying. Two, if there are so many illegal infiltrators,
09:44where have they come from? This whole story about so many Bangladeshis and so many Rohingyas, are you saying that
09:52for the past 10 years,
09:5310 or 12 years, the Home Minister of the country and the Defence Minister of the country is so weak
09:57that they haven't been able to manage our borders efficiently?
10:00Under whose watch have so many infiltrators come in?
10:02Mr. Do you believe that there are a large number of illegal immigrants in a city like Mumbai?
10:08Mr. I haven't seen any. But if there are, come on, let's get them out. But the point is, how
10:13did they come? Where is Bangladesh? Where is Mumbai?
10:14To cross over from the border and to cross so many BJP-run states and to come and settle in
10:19Mumbai, which has been run by the BJP for the last 12 years,
10:22barring the two and a half years that we had, the Home Minister being the Chief Minister himself, don't you
10:27think it's a failure of the BJP then?
10:29Do you think they have allowed the infiltrators inside India?
10:32Mr. Let me push you one last time on this Gyanesh Kumar question. If tomorrow...
10:37Mr. Why are you pushing Gyanesh Kumar? You can push me as much as you want.
10:39No, no. If Gyanesh Kumar does not go... This is a serious question. You see, you all have said...
10:45I mean, Malik Arjun Gharge of the Congress, for example, says, this is an illegitimate government, illegitimate Chief Ministers elected
10:52under a flawed electoral process.
10:55The corollary of that is, if you contest an election tomorrow under the same illegitimate process, who's benefiting?
11:01I ask you again, are you willing to consider boycotting elections if Gyanesh Kumar continues as Chief Election Commissioner?
11:09Rajiv Ji, let me make it very clear. Gyanesh Kumar will have to go. Unfortunately, today...
11:14How?
11:15What's happened in our country, if you see the kind of detentions, if you see the kind of people who
11:19are being arrested, detained, beaten up by the Delhi police and many other cops across the country,
11:24we have an emergency by a government who does not have the guts to call this an emergency.
11:29At least Mrs. Gandhi had the guts to call it an emergency. This Prime Minister and this government or regime
11:34does not have the guts to call an emergency an emergency.
11:38They will only implement it without having the guts to do so.
11:41You know, Aditya Thakri, you're full of fire and brimstone at the moment. It almost seems all of you are
11:49competing for the CJP space.
11:52Not really. We are very happy sharing.
11:54The Kokrut Janata Party has shown the way and the Shiv Sena, including the Shiv Sena UBT, is happy to
12:00join the Kokrut Janata Party.
12:02I never thought I would see a day when the Shiv Sena would endorse another party like the Kokrut Janata
12:07Party, which you all did a few weeks ago.
12:10Some of your Senics even participated in the protests in Mumbai.
12:13Is the CJP the future? Is Aditya Thakri saying, I want to see more Kokruches out there?
12:20I mean, in an ecosystem, you want every kind of flora and fauna. Right?
12:26You're a bit of an environmentalist yourself.
12:28A lot of it. So, but my point is this, that be it the CJP, be it the Congress, be
12:34it RJD, be it Shiv Sena, be it MNS, be it any other party across the country, be it the
12:38TMC.
12:39All of us are not fighting for ourselves. We're fighting for the country.
12:44In fact, we are inviting the BJP to come join us and clear up the electoral system.
12:48Tomorrow they will start losing if such a system is implemented against them.
12:53Their party will be broken the way they broke our party, the way they broke NCP, the way they broke
12:57TMC, the way they broke Tata's for the benefit to get TCS or whatever to control the electoral rolls.
13:03The point being, you cannot...
13:05No, no, you are again making a serious allegation.
13:07Yes.
13:07You are telling me here in this audience that the BJP is breaking Tata's to promote TCS, which has been
13:14given the contract with the Election Commission.
13:16That's a very serious allegation to make.
13:18Who stands to gain?
13:18Sorry?
13:19Who stands to gain?
13:20You tell me.
13:21You tell me.
13:23No, no.
13:23You have come here and said the BJP is trying to break Tata's.
13:27These are all very serious unmoven allegations.
13:30I'll tell you why.
13:31The BJP has broken parties and the BJP is now going behind corporates to let one corporate gain.
13:37Now, I don't know if the sponsor is that corporate, but...
13:43This is the second time you are doing it.
13:45You did it last year as well.
13:46Last year as well.
13:46But go ahead.
13:47But my point is this, that if you see what the BJP is doing is ruining every establishment,
13:51every institution, every corporate, every political party, every free voice in this country,
13:57so that it can tighten its grip over this country.
14:00And today, when you have the Cockroach Janta party protesting, why not support it?
14:04Today, when you have anybody protesting against unfair means of the regime,
14:09I think it's our duty, beyond political interests, beyond political ideologies, beyond political self-interest,
14:15to go and support them.
14:16I'll tell you why people feel you are supporting the Cockroach Janta party.
14:20They think parties like the Shiv Sena UBT.
14:22Please listen carefully.
14:24Our parties of Dinis.
14:26That y'all are...
14:27That Aditya Thakre is there because his father is Uddav Thakre,
14:31who is there because Bala Sahib Thakre started the party.
14:33So much easier then to support a fresh Cockroach Janta party and use them to gain power.
14:40This is not some love for the Cockroach Janta party, but a recognition that the young voters, the Gen Z,
14:45would rather have a fresh Cockroach Janta party with figures who are not coming with any baggage,
14:51than support old parties, be it the Congress, be it the TMC or be it the Shiv Sena.
14:56Rajseep Ji, about Dynas and the legacy, I think there's a difference.
15:00I mean, I would of course be very very proud of my legacy.
15:02I've said this before and I say it today, I'm very proud of my legacy.
15:05At least I can show what my forefathers were doing and where they come from.
15:11But, about Dynas, look into the BJP's MP list.
15:15Look into the BJP's leadership.
15:17They have more Dynas than any other political party in this country today.
15:21Having said that, about the CJP, the first credibility of the CJP,
15:24comes from the fact that they are non-political.
15:27Right?
15:28Two, I think a lot of young people and people of different ages,
15:32people of different political ideologies, came to Shivaji Park the other day to protest
15:35only because you had the country at the forefront of everything.
15:39Three, I don't think we're fools to believe that, oh, by showing up at a political protest like that or
15:44somewhere else,
15:46which is, you know, saying, okay, everyone's coming here, I'm going to get the votes en masse in one go.
15:52I'm not going there for the votes.
15:53I know that there may be so many people there who do not agree with me.
15:56There may be many people there who do not vote for me and maybe not ever vote for me.
16:00But I am going there to fulfill my duty as a citizen of India that if someone is stepping out
16:06for this country,
16:06I have to make sure that I am there at the right time holding the Tiranga for my country and
16:11I will always do that.
16:12If the CJP becomes a political party tomorrow, will you support it?
16:15Let's not go into the...
16:16No, no, no.
16:18Let's be very clear.
16:19If the CJP becomes a political party tomorrow, will Aditya Thakrej Shiv Sena support it?
16:25Would you want to alliance with them?
16:26You want to go...
16:28I come back to it.
16:29You all want to latch on to the CJP because your own vote is dwindling.
16:33Therefore, you need the CJP.
16:35I don't think a vote is dwindling.
16:36A. And 2.
16:37I think the vote itself is dwindling on a larger scale because you do not have a free vote.
16:42That is the larger problem.
16:44If Mr. Rajiv Sardisai wants to vote for the BJP, his vote may be going for the BJP.
16:49But if you probably want to vote for the Congress or the CJP or the Shiv Sena or the TMC,
16:53your vote is still going to the BJP.
16:54That is the problem.
16:55No, no.
16:55You see, Aditya, you are keeping on going to vote chori.
17:002024 Lok Sabha.
17:01This is the entire fight.
17:02No, no, no.
17:02One minute, sir.
17:032024 Lok Sabha, you ended up with the maximum number of seats, 48 seats on offer.
17:08Your party and the other opposition parties got 30 of the 48.
17:11I didn't hear any of you say vote chori.
17:14Four months later, you lost Maharashtra.
17:16Suddenly you all...
17:17Rajivji, there was one seat, one seat, Mumbai Northwest.
17:20Mumbai Northwest, we have spoken about vote chori.
17:23Sir, that was a very close...
17:24That was a stolen seat.
17:25That was a close...
17:26That was a cheated on seat.
17:27Yeah, yeah.
17:28That was a close margin seat.
17:29I am asking you a simple question.
17:31Is the rule now, that when you lose, sabkut changasi, when you...
17:35Sorry.
17:36When you win, sabkut changasi, when you lose, vote chori.
17:41We haven't won in the last four years.
17:42So, sabkut changasi nahin bol pae ham log.
17:44No, no.
17:44You won 2024 Lok Sabha.
17:46You won 2024 Lok Sabha.
17:48Yes.
17:49That time I didn't hear anybody say vote chori.
17:51If 70 seats or 70 odd seats not been rigged by the BJP, they would not be crossing 200.
17:57So, are you saying that even 2024 Lok Sabha was rigged?
18:02You look at the way things are happening.
18:03I didn't hear any of you say that at the time.
18:05You are now saying it two years later.
18:07We have constantly said this.
18:08We have constantly spoken about EVMs.
18:10We have constantly spoken about vote chori.
18:12But when Haryana happened, when Bihar happened, when Maharashtra happened, that is when vote chori
18:19was more blatant than before.
18:20So, you know, Aritya Dhakre, the existential crisis of the Shiv Sena.
18:27The fact is why are these MPs and MLAs leaving you?
18:32At some level, isn't this a crisis of leadership?
18:35When MPs and MLAs leave a party, it's not simply for the loaves and fishes that the other
18:41side offers.
18:41It also shows perhaps that you all have not been able to do enough to take on the other
18:47side to give yourself a sense that the Shiv Sena UBT has a future.
18:53Absolutely.
18:53There's a big crisis of leadership in the BJP because when you can't get your…
18:56In the UBT, Shiv Sena UBT?
18:57No, no, in the BJP because if you can't get your own elected MPs or your own MPs elected
19:01on your own face, then you start breaking parties.
19:04That is a crisis of leadership.
19:08Clear cut crisis of leadership.
19:10You won't win on yourself and you won't win on another party.
19:13So why are your MPs so ready and MLAs so ready to leave and join the other side?
19:18Why are they…
19:19I mean someone like…
19:20We are here in this very constituency which you are I think the MLA of in Worley.
19:26Sachin Ahir, seen as one of your main chieftains, goes and shifts and joins the other side.
19:32What does it show?
19:33Isn't that a lack of confidence in Aditya Thakre's leadership?
19:36Let me not show you his WhatsApp message from the morning that he left.
19:39This morning?
19:40No, no.
19:41That morning when he left.
19:42Personal reasons are galore.
19:44But the point is this…
19:45Why did he leave?
19:45That…
19:46Why did he leave?
19:48Ask anyone in Worley.
19:50You'll get to know.
19:51There's some…
19:52Let it be.
19:53No, no.
19:54Interests and interests.
19:55So anyway, the point is this…
19:56We are in Worley.
19:58Rajiv Ji…
19:58Your main man in Worley has left you.
20:00Let me bring you to the point here.
20:01You know what?
20:02Let's get the six MPs lined up here.
20:04Let's get them seated here.
20:06Okay.
20:06And let's start mind reading them.
20:07And let's start wondering…
20:09Or if they're wondering if they left the party at the wrong time.
20:14No, but you see I remember…
20:15There's a change coming.
20:16And this kind of politics…
20:18This kind of politics where you win from one party and hop over to another
20:22will not be tolerated by people.
20:24You know I was in Chakhan recently
20:26where the people have been complaining about bad roads and terrible facilities to industries.
20:31And I went to Hinzauri.
20:32And again, a lot of people have been telling me that…
20:34You know too much of this politics where someone's father is in the BJP,
20:38the son is in the Sena, the brother is in the NCP.
20:40We're done with this kind of politics.
20:41Please give us people who have no baggage and do not have interest in hopping parties.
20:46I think you'll see a lot of younger people, cleaner people, without political backgrounds,
20:51come up in the next elections which is way before 2029.
20:56You're saying there will be an election before 2029.
20:58The next general election will be before 2029.
21:01The way it is going, it will be like that.
21:03And you will give tickets to new young people.
21:07We will give tickets to cleaner intent.
21:10And for those people who have only and only this whole agenda of serving the country.
21:16That is the only thing.
21:20You don't accept and the matter is before the Supreme Court even as we speak,
21:24that the real Shiv Sena, that issue according to Eknat Shindeji has been settled.
21:31They have the maximum MLAs, they have the maximum MPs, they have the maximum councillors.
21:37Issue is settled.
21:38The Thakres are the past, the Shindes are the future.
21:41Rajdeep Ji, today if I steal your bat while playing cricket and score more than you,
21:45does the bat become mine?
21:49You won't score more runs than me.
21:52Even if you steal my bat.
21:53Let's have a bet on that.
21:54No, no, you have to do the batting yourself.
21:56You can't, you can steal my bat but you'll have to score the runs.
21:59That's what I'm telling Eknat Shinde.
22:01Come try to score the runs with me.
22:04You're saying on a level playing field, you versus...
22:06You're saying it's a non-level playing field and that's the only reason why...
22:10For a few days, till things change.
22:12You know, I've been hearing these words of change.
22:15The fact is, and y'all have worked with Prime Minister Modi.
22:18He just completed 25 years in power and that's a remarkable feat.
22:2312 years as Gujarat Chief Minister or 13 years and then 11 years as Prime Minister.
22:28Will you give some acknowledgement, some credit to the fact that he's proven to be one of the most durable,
22:34if not the most durable politician India has had?
22:37Look, there are many ways to be durable in our country and the way agencies operate,
22:41the way politics happens today.
22:43Let me not go into that.
22:44Let me not take away from his 25 years.
22:46But the fact remains that the last 12 years, especially the last 10 years,
22:50the kind of iron grip that the BJP had on India, the kind of trust at a certain point,
22:56you've seen people after a move as crazy as demonetization, people stand in lines.
23:01You've seen GST completely failed, but people believed in it at one point.
23:05This has been the lost decade for India.
23:08And I say it with a heavy heart, but this has been the lost decade for India,
23:11because the kind of real growth, the kind of real jobs we could have seen,
23:14the kind of real development we could have seen.
23:16You see, every developmental project, go to the missing link.
23:19There's been a remarkable growth in public infrastructure.
23:22You cannot deny that.
23:23Okay, let's go Rajivji.
23:24Right now, you, me and the Chief Minister,
23:26let's go for a drive to the missing link, Mumbai Pune Express.
23:31The missing link, as the Chief Minister claimed,
23:3425 countries have tested this and that and that.
23:37A, forget the landslide, forget everything else.
23:39See the amount of patchwork that's happened in the last 4 months.
23:42See the kind of potholes you still have on the missing link.
23:46And there's quality of the surface there.
23:48And I can take you to every new infrastructure project
23:51inaugurated by this BJP government.
23:53Within 3 months, you have patchwork happening, repairwork happening,
23:56or potholes coming up.
23:57Why?
23:58Potholes were there when you all were also in charge of the BMC.
24:01But I had...
24:02No, no, no, no.
24:03But Rajivji, you and I, there's a famous video.
24:05Sir, potholes are politically neutral.
24:07Potholes exist whichever is the government.
24:09Mumbai cars have suffered over the years,
24:11whether you've been in power or the other side.
24:12Potholes don't know if Shiv Senai is in power or BJP is in power.
24:16Potholes are potholes.
24:17Rajivji, you and I have had a video.
24:19Yes.
24:20On air.
24:21Where we have spoken about the road management potholes,
24:24and I've given you figures of where potholes have been filled,
24:26where there are no potholes, which are the new roads,
24:28and which roads were under repairs.
24:30Let's have this discussion with the Chief Minister.
24:32Let's see if he knows that much.
24:33Let's see if there's an intent to work on that many things.
24:35You see that, you know, you said something which has struck a chord for me as someone who loves my
24:41home state of Maharashtra,
24:43one of my home states.
24:44I mean, we've got a terrible drought going on at the moment.
24:47Terrible drought in Maratwada and Vidarbha.
24:49I would like to see why can't the two sides, the opposition and the government, go together and travel across
24:56these drought-hit areas.
24:58I find politics being played out even over drought.
25:01Is it not possible to work together at least on certain issues?
25:05I'll tell you why.
25:07The Chief Minister had his tour of the drought-hit areas.
25:09I had my visits of the drought-hit areas.
25:11We met the farmers.
25:12We've interacted with the farmers.
25:14There have been certain startling images coming out from the Chief Minister's tour.
25:18You had iron railings being put up,
25:21so that the farmers cannot approach the Chief Minister without being frisked two or three times.
25:26You know, they had to come without any of their crops to show the Chief Minister.
25:29So they had to just come with a letter.
25:31A couple of things.
25:31Even our two MLAs from that region were not allowed to meet the Chief Minister,
25:35primarily because the farmers were with them.
25:37Why do you need frisking when you're meeting farmers?
25:40Why do you need iron railings when you're meeting farmers?
25:42Can't you just go without all these frills and paraphernalia,
25:45and go and meet the farmers as-is?
25:47Are they terrorists?
25:49When we went and met them,
25:50so many of the farmers complained, saying,
25:52Sir, there's a car here.
25:52There's a car here.
25:53There's a car here.
25:54There's a car here.
25:56Two, let me tell you also one more difference.
25:58Last year, you had floods.
26:00The Chief Minister announced a package of 32,000 crores.
26:03Go onto the ground and ask any farmer.
26:05Not a single rupee has gone to the farmer's account.
26:08Two...
26:08We did that story.
26:09It's not a single farmer, but yes, there were complaints.
26:12Let me complete.
26:13Then, you had the Prime Minister's crop loan insurance scheme.
26:17None of the insurance money actually goes out to the farmer when there's destruction.
26:20Three, the Chief Minister announced a huge loan waiver right now.
26:24Go to every village.
26:26Four or five names have come in that list,
26:27but the money hasn't gone on the bank accounts.
26:29It's been two months.
26:30Compared to this, everyone says,
26:34The loan waiver given by Uddha Thakre in 2020 reached us.
26:38That is the difference between two people.
26:39That's a few months ago,
26:39the Christina's gift is going to be named at the compound.
26:39What's the money about?