Beleaguered Shiv Sena leader Manohar Joshi, who was booed off the dais by his party's supporters at a Dussehra rally, had deserved the treatment he received, NCP leader Chhagan Bhujbal said today.
"He reaped what he had sown," Bhujbal, who was Joshi's comrade in the Sena for several years, told reporters.
"Had Joshi not been the CM during the Sena-BJP rule, that regime would have lasted 20 years," he said.
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Joshi go back: Shiv Sainiks shout ‘Chale jao Joshi’ as Manohar Joshi arrives at the rally in Shivaji Park. Pics/Rane Ashish
But MPCC president Manikrao Thakre declined to comment on the matter saying it did not concern his party.
"Joshi is a senior leader. Such a thing should not happen in any party. However, it is an internal affair of that party (Sena) and I won't comment on it," Thakre said.
Congress minister Narayan Rane, who succeeded Joshi as chief minister during the Sena-BJP regime in the 90s, said the Sena leader won't dare take on the party after the humiliation at the Dussehra rally.
Slamming Joshi for his alleged greed, Rane, who is now a Congress leader and also Maharashtra's minister for industries, said that suffering humiliation was nothing new for the former Shiv Sena chief minister of Maharashtra.
Rane had formerly belonged to Sena before joining Congress. "Looking at his age, Joshi has no political future and no followers left. Therefore, he should sit at home. On several occasions, he was humiliated and insulted by the late Sena chief Bal Thackeray, even when he was the chief minister of Maharashtra.
"Joshi can tolerate all sorts of insults for the sake of the power," Rane said, adding that the way Sena supporters had treated its party's former chief minister at the Dussehra rally on Sunday was improper.
"Had Balasaheb been at the helm of the party, he would have tackled the situation differently. A public humiliation is not what Joshi deserved. I think this is the difference of leadership between Balasaheb and his son," he said. u00a0
Sainiks heckled Joshi at the rally as they were annoyed with his utterances against Sena Chief Uddhav Thackeray's leadership style.
At the rally on October 13, Uddhav and his son Aditya had tried to pacify the agitated Sainiks who were raising anti-Joshi slogans. Uddhav's wife Rashmi even ventured into the crowd to placate the workers. Joshi was, however, finally forced to leave the venue.
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