Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray has launched a scathing attack against his former ally BJP, saying that hunger for power was like "drug addiction" and challenging it to topple his coalition government which will soon complete two years. Stating that the BJP had not understood either Veer Savarkar or Mahatma Gandhi.

Thackeray, speaking at his party Shiv Sena's annual Dussehra rally at Shanmukhanand Hall here, said he was proud of his Hindutva ideology but as chief minister, he treated every citizen equally. Referring to RSS chief Mohan Bhagwat's recent statement that ancestors of all Indians were the same, Thackeray asked, "Did the ancestors of opposition parties and farmers come from a different planet? Struggle for power is not good. Addiction to power is like drug addiction. "In drug addiction, you destroy yourself and your family. But hunger for power destroys families of others," he said. Notably, Thackeray, who heads the Shiv Sena, said its and RSS's ideology was same, but paths were different.