Denying that his party had any plans to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra, former chief minister and senior BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis said here on Sunday that his party wanted to “separate” Mumbai from the “corruption” of the Shiv Sena which rules the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Virtually launching the BJP’s campaign for the BMC polls to be held in September-October this year, Fadnavis hit out at chief minister and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray for his “allegation” that his party wanted to separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. “No one can separate Mumbai from Maharashtra. All we want to do is to separate Mumbai from the corruption and misconduct of the Shiv Sena which rules the BMC,” he said.

Addressing a rally of North Indian community at Goregaon in north Mumbai Mumbai, Fadnavis said that if late Shiv Sena chief Balasaheb Thackeray, if he were to be alive, would have been pained to see that during his son's rule reciting Hanuman Chalisa would be a sedition and going to Aurangzeb’s tomb would be a protocol.

Vowing to bring down the “Babri” and "Lanka of corruption" of the three-party MVA government comprising Shiv Sena, NCP and Congress, Fadnavis retaliated to the allegations made against him by Uddhav at the rally that the latter addressed in Mumbai on Saturday evening.

Slamming Uddhav for ridiculing him that he (Fadnavis)  might have gone to Ayodhya for his school or college picnic and that if he had tried to climb the Masjid the structure would have collapsed under his weight, Fadnavis said: “Yes I had gone to Ayodhya to bring down. In February 1992, I became a corporator and in July the same year I became an Advocate. I had gone to Ayodhya with slogans like Lathi, goli kayenge, mandir waye banayenge. I am proud that I had gone to Ayodhya then”.

Wondering as to why Uddhav felt insulted when he said that no Sena leaders were present at Babri Masjid at that time, Fadnavis used a lyrics of a film to take a dig at the chief minister.| “Aare main Ayodha jaa raha tha, Main tho Babri Gira raha tha, mandir bana raha tha, thuje mirchi lagi tho main kya karu?”       

Replying to Uddhav’s charge that if he (Fadnavis) had tried to climb the masjid, the structure would have collapsed under his weight, “Now I weigh 102 kgs, I was weighing 128 kgs…Yes I was in Babri and I was in Budaun jail….we were just waiting where were they, when they would come....let me tell him in the language he understands....if my FSI is now 1.5, then it was 2.5....Yes, I was very much there."

“No doubt Balsaheb Thackeray was a wagh (tiger) but today there is only one tiger ....(Prime Minister) Narendra Modi,” he said, accusing the Shiv Sena of faking Hindutva.

He said that BJP would undertake 'kar seva' time and again when it came to protecting Hindu culture and traditions.

Refuting Thackeray's charge that BJP was behaving like a jilted lover, Fadnavis said: "In fact, you took our property, ran away and married someone else...even while there was no official divorce".