Thackeray said the BJP had “duped” the people of the country who had voted for it in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. (PTI)

Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray has said the BJP would have used all means, including splitting the Congress and the NCP, to form the government in Maharashtra in 2014 if his party had not supported it. In a fresh attack on his ally, Thackeray said the BJP had “duped” the people of the country who had voted for it in the 2014 Lok Sabha polls. He also needled the BJP over its allegations of corruption against the Congress and the previous UPA government, saying if corruption “really” has taken place, it should be proved rather than just “slinging mud at others”.

“Had we not participated in the government, the BJP, like it goes on winning states using all means,…like it broke the Congress and the Trinamool Congress (TMC) in Tripura, the same way, the BJP would have split the Congress and the NCP to form the government in Maharashtra,” Thackeray said. “Instead of letting that happen, I let my people gain experience of working in the government,” he said, in the second part of his interview to Sena mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.

The Shiv Sena is a constituent of the BJP-led governments in the state and at the Centre. Asked what he gained by being in power for four years in Maharashtra, Thackeray said the Sena ministers in the government got an experience of the administrative work.

“This was in a way a rehearsal of running the government. What should be done, what should not be done. Also, how to implement schemes,” the Sena chief said. He said the people of Maharashtra have experienced the governance of all parties except the Sena.

“Power will come (in hands of the Sena) when people decide so. I am sure that people have experienced all other parties till now. But, they have not experienced Sena being the only party in power. That is why I got my people to experience being in power,” he said. To a question, he said the Shiv Sena founder late Bal Thackeray never broke any other party to form his party.

“It was formed as Shiv Sena and it still is. It (the Shiv Sena) never changed its name, its leaders or (party) symbol. Other parties were not broken to form the Sena,” said the son of Bal Thackeray. Turning to the issue of corruption, Thackeray sought to know what happened to the 2G scam, which, he said, was discussed not only in the country but across the world.

“During that time (when the scam broke out), the country’s image stooped so low, as if there was no country as corrupt as India,” the Sena leader said. “The result was that the government changed, but nothing happened to allegations of corruption. Even today, you (the BJP) talk about 60 years of corruption but nothing has been proven yet,” he said.

“If there really has been corruption, prove it. It is improper to run away after slinging mud at others while holding a lotus in your hand,” he quipped. Responding to another query, Thackeray said nowadays when somebody works, he is termed as corrupt and if one doesn’t, he is termed inefficient.

He took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s foreign visits abroad, saying it seems his attention was only on foreign countries. In the first part of the interview yesterday, Thackeray had taken a dig at the BJP-led government over incidents of mob lynching, saying cows were safer than women in the country.

“We are a part of the government but if something is wrong, we will definitely talk about it. We are friends of the Bharatiya Janata, not of any party,” he had said, taking a dig at Bhartiya Janata Party’s (BJP) name.