Congress created Shiv Sena: Jairam Ramesh

Former Union minister and senior Congress leader Jairam Ramesh said that Congress created Shiv Sena in 1967 to break the monopoly of AITUC and CITU in the trade unions of Bombay.

Responding to a question posed by Rajdeep Sardesai about Congress embracing Shiv Sena during a panel discussion, Ramesh said, "In 1967, lets no forget that it was Mr SK Patil and Mr VP Naik who were responsible in many ways for the creation of Shiv Sena to break the monopoly of AITUC and CITU in the trade unions of Bombay. Let's also not forget that in 1980, the first leader to come out in favour Mr Abdul Rehman Antulay as CM of Maharashtra was Bal Thackeray. Let's not forget that it was Mr Bal Thackeray who broke ranks with NDA to support Pratibha Patil for the Presidentship."