Stop harassing my family, put me in jail if you want power: Uddhav Thackeray reacts to ED raids

"Why are you harassing my family? Have we ever tried to dig up the carcasses your families might have buried? This is the wrong kind of politics, nothing is achieved from this. If you want to put someone in jail, let it be me," the Shiv Sena leader said while speaking at the State Assembly on Friday.

Mumbai: Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray registered a rather emotionally charged reaction after the ED recently targetted his brother-in-law amid its long ongoing stride of confiscations of MVA leaders' properties. "Why are you harassing my family? Have we ever tried to dig up the skeletons your families might have buried? This is the wrong kind of politics, nothing is achieved from this. If you want to put someone in jail, let it be me," the Shiv Sena leader said while speaking at the State Assembly on Friday.

Further clarifying that he is not scared of the unjust targetting by the BJP, Thackeray gave a reference to one of his school poems on Shivaji Maharaj which he claimed to be capable of retaliating with even more force. "Put me in jail, if that's what you need to do to come to power. I will show what I can do," he said. The CM also emphasized that there is no political benefit anyone can achieve by exposing such things. The court gives its decisions once presented with proofs, he said.

Giving a reference from the Mahabharata, he said, "If you put me in jail, find the one where Lord Krishna was born. I am not saying I am Lord Krishna, but can you say you're not Kans? Your vicious tactics speak so," the CM said.

The reaction came two days after the ED confiscated assets worth Rs 6.45 crores from Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray's brother-in-law Shridhar Patankar alleging money laundering. The ED had issued provisional orders against 11 residential flats in Thane belonging to Thackery's wife Rashmi Thackeray, under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), indirectly framing her brother for involvement via a third party.

Before him, former Maharashtra Home Minister and NCP leader Anil Deshmukh were also arrested by the ED in November, while he is still in judicial custody. The MVA leaders in the state have been long criticizing the ED for working under the orders of the opposition-led central government and falsely framing them for political gains.