Pune: Union home minister Amit Shah on Saturday said there was no Sena faction now other than Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena, taking a jibe at Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray over his party’s six MPs on the verge of joining the Shinde group.Shah arrived in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra in the early hours of Saturday against the backdrop of much-speculated “Operation Tiger”. Six rebel MPs of Uddhav’s party are expected to join deputy chief minister Shinde’s Shiv Sena in the coming days.The Union home minister referred to Shinde as the chief of Shiv Sena during his public address in Kolhapur city. “Earlier, we had to call it the Shinde faction (of Shiv Sena). Now, no other faction is left,” he said.Shah criticised Thackeray over his alliance with Congress and said, “Uddhav is sitting on the lap of Congress, which uses infiltrators as its vote bank. I want to make it clear that India is not a ‘Dharamshala’. All infiltrators will be thrown out of the country.”Referring to the victory in West Bengal Assembly polls, Shah said, “While BJP was winning in various states, people would ask us what would happen to our party in Bengal. The people of Bengal blessed us with a massive victory.”Shah said, “BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi are indebted to the people of Bengal. I want to tell the people of Bengal that we will not only stop infiltration through the state’s border areas, our govt will also ensure that every infiltrator is identified and thrown out of the country.”In another rally in Kolhapur’s Ichalkaranji, Shah attacked Congress and said the party did very little for farmers when it was in the govt. He said, “Congress was in the govt for so many years but it never thought of farmers. Rahul Gandhi claims that his party waived off farm loan, but he should give details of how much was the waiver.”Shah said, “In the 10 years of their (UPA) govt, they waived off only Rs60,000 crore farm loan. Under Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s leadership, our govt in the past 12 years has directly deposited Rs4,28,000 crore into the accounts of farmers irrespective of their loan status. Therefore, I appeal to people to vote for a govt that will think about common people and work tirelessly for development.”Comparing Modi’s 12 years with that of the previous govt, Shah said, “India has witnessed terror attacks and blasts before Prime Minister Modi took over 12 years ago. The Prime Minister then would be silent despite attacks on India. Prime Minister Modi changed that response through surgical strikes, aerial strikes and Operation Sindoor.”Shah also laid the foundation stone of a Rs1,500crore project for conservation and development of Mahalaxmi Temple.
