In his first comments on the impending split in his party for the second time in four years, Thackeray on Friday said the Shiv Sena was not born to merge with anyone.
"It was created to fight for the rights of Marathi people and protect Hindutva," he said while addressing a gathering of Shiv Sena (UBT) workers here, marking the 60th foundation day of the united Shiv Sena, founded by his father, late Bal Thackeray.
He slammed the rebel MPs for claims that they feared the Sena (UBT) might merge with the Congress.
"If we didn't merge with the BJP despite being an ally for 30 years, how can we merge with the Congress. I fear the Maharashtra BJP might merge with the Shinde Sena," he remarked.
He said we have had severe political differences with the Congress, but it never tried to destroy the Shiv Sena like the BJP is doing.
Defying a whip, six of the nine Lok Sabha MPs of the Shiv Sena (UBT) on Thursday skipped a crucial parliamentary party meeting in New Delhi. The MPs who skipped the meeting are Nagesh Aashtikar, Sanjay Jadhav, Sanjay Deshmukh, Sanjay Dina Patil, Omprakash Rajenimbalkar and Bhausaheb Wakchaure.
The former CM offered apologies to voters for electing these MPs, who now appear set to switch sides.
"The Shiv Sena was not born to merge with anyone. It was created to fight for the rights of Marathi people and protect Hindutva," Thackeray said and claimed he accepted the chief minister's post in 2019 out of a sense of responsibility because the BJP had "betrayed" the united Shiv Sena.
He also hit out at his political opponents, who often criticise his style of functioning and his alleged disconnect with party workers and the people.
"If I didn't move out to meet party workers and travel across the state, how did all of them win elections. During the (2024) Lok Sabha elections, I held seven to ten meetings in every constituency. They (rebels) became MPs because of the faith of Shiv Sainiks and voters," he added.
Thackeray claimed the country was moving towards the "one party, no election" path, which runs counter to democracy.
He said the BJP's "politics of engineering defections" posed a grave threat to democracy and warned that people's faith in the democratic process was eroding
