Thackeray says this would be claimed as an achievement by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for winning the next Lok Sabha polls
In a sensational claim, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray said fugitive underworld don Dawood Ibrahim was in talks with the Centre about a surrender. Thackeray says this would be claimed as an achievement by the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi for winning the next Lok Sabha polls.
The son of a Mumbai police head constable, Dawood attained notoriety as an organised crime lord and smuggler, and the kingpin of the 1993 Mumbai bomb blasts which claimed 257 lives and left over 700 injured. He is believed to be hiding in Pakistan.
"One thing that I have understood is that Dawood Ibrahim wants to come back to India... He is handicapped and wants to die here," Thackeray said. "He is hence negotiating a settlement with the Centre. It is his wish, but they (the BJP) will claim they brought Dawood back to India and win the polls. They will say that the Congress could not bring him back years after the bomb blasts, but their man — our Prime Minister (Narendra Modi) — did. They will not bring him back. It is his wish."
Thackeray was speaking at the launch of his official Facebook page on Thursday and said as a cartoonist, he would tell people "what lay between the lines". In the early 1990s, the Shiv Sena and BJP alliance had promised to bring Dawood to India.
Senior BJP leader, the late Gopinath Munde, even claimed they would "get back Dawood in shackles".
Senior Mumbai and Maharashtra police sources, however, dismissed Thackeray's claims. "In the past few years, there has not been much movement on this issue. As of now, it looks pretty unlikely that Dawood will be brought back to India," said a senior Mumbai Police officer. A top Maharashtra police officer said, "There have been reports in the past about Dawood being unwell, but we have not received any communication from the Centre about him in the recent times." Intelligence sources at the Centre also denied having any information about Dawood's homecoming.
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