No Modi wave like in 2014, BJP at loss: Raj Thackeray

Maharashtra Navnirman Sena President Raj Thackeray on Tuesday claimed there is "no wave now like 2014" for Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Bharatiya Janata Party and its leaders are now bewildered what to do.

"Modi has said nothing about the promises he made in 2014 Instead, he grabs any issue to seek votes. Now, he's asking for votes in the name of the Easter Sunday terror strikes in Sri Lanka," he said at a rally in south Mumbai's Kalachowky area.

Alleging Modi has "only said lies and made fake propaganda" in the past five years, Thackeray showed a picture of the PM posing with a family ostensibly brought above the poverty line in a government ad.

To prove his point, he called on stage the entire family - amidst thunderous applause - and said their photo on a social media site was "simply picked up" and the PM's photo pasted alongside to produce the fake advertisement for the government campaign.

"Here they are - recognize them all. It was their family album photo which they had posted on a social site. Compare them with the picture in the Modi ad," Thackeray said as the crowds roared their approval.

The recent open support expressed by top industrialists and bankers to Mumbai South Congress candidate Milind Deora "is a hint to the entire country" that the BJP government is on way out, he claimed.

"This is unprecedented. I don't recall any such instance of the past when such top industrialists have come out and openly endorsed a particular candidate. Mark my words, this is not limited to just one constituency, but its a message to the whole country that Narendra Modi will not become the Prime Minister again," Thackeray claimed.

Charging the BJP of making fraudulent memorandums of understanding during the Make In India expo held in Mumbai over three years ago, catching local businessmen and creating inflated investment documents, he rued how Mumbai entrepreneur Amol Yadav - who designed and built a passenger aircraft on his building terrace - was promised huge land and investments of around Rs 35,000 crore, but nothing came out of it and now he's preparing to leave for the US.

Referring to attempts by the BJP to "gag" him for holding his rallies, the MNS chief said: "I just want them to answer my questions. But Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis is baffled as to what reply to give to me, so they attack me."

He touched on a variety of other issues, including playing videos of Modi who first praised Nationalist Congress Party supremo Sharad Pawar in most glowing terms barely three years ago, and his recent strategy vowing to politically "wipe out" the Pawar clan from Maharashtra.