Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray backs Nitin Gadkari

Mumbai: After NCP chief Sharad Pawar, BJP President Nitin Gadkari also found support from Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray. In an editorial in 'Saamna', Shiv Sena's party magazine, Bal Thackeray has come out in support of BJP leader Nitin Gadkari, just two days after he was charged with corruption by India Against Corruption and Arvind Kejriwal.

The editorial says the corruption charges against Gadkari were the result of a conspiracy hatched by IAC activists Kejriwal and Anjali Damania. But the editorial attacked political rival, the NCP. It hints that the fault lies with the irrigation department, which was then under NCP's Ajit Pawar.

Accusing Gadkari of taking over land taken away from a farmer in Maharashtra's Vidarbha region, Arvind Kejriwal had said Gadkari was promoting his business interests at the cost of farmers. "Whose interests does Gadkari represent? He has a very big business empire. His interests are clashing with those of Vidarbha's farmers?" the activist-cum-politician said.

The Shiv Sena editorial says the corruption charges against Gadkari were the result of a conspiracy hatched by IAC activists.

Kejriwal targeted Gadkari accusing him of receiving personal favours by getting around 100 acres of agriculture land in Maharashtra after the Congress-NCP government there bent rules. Utilising a press conference to "expose" Gadkari, the activist-turned-politician alleged that all parties were involved in a cosy relationship of "looting" the country even though they raise issues against each other just for the sake of it.

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