Mumbai: Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray on Friday hit out at the BJP for giving the chief minister’s post to rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde and said if the former ally had fulfilled his promise made earlier, there would have been no “Maha Vikas Aghadi”. Referring to Eknath Shinde’s swearing-in as CM and Devendra Fadnavis’s deputy, Uddhav said he had told Amit Shah even before that Shiv Sena’s for 2.5 years (during the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance). There should be a CM. If he had done this earlier, there would have been no Maha Vikas Aghadi.”
He also hit out at rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde, who led a rebellion against him for over a week, culminating in Thackeray’s resignation from office.
The Shiv Sena chief said the new chief minister did not belong to his party, which the BJP wanted to make. He said that he had told Union Home Minister Amit Shah about the distribution of the chief minister’s post for 2.5-2.5 years in 2019.
It may be noted that the Shiv Sena and the BJP had demanded 2.5 years of chief ministership for both the parties during the five-year term after the 2019 assembly elections in the state, which was later not accepted. The Shiv Sena then allied with rivals NCP and Congress to form the government.
Uddhav further said that “the way the government has been formed and a so-called Shiv Sena worker has been made the CM, I had told the same to Amit Shah. It could have been done respectfully. Shiv Sena was officially with you (at that time). This CM (Eknath Shinde) is not the CM of Shiv Sena.’
Criticizing the new government for its decision to build a Metro car shed in Mumbai’s Aarey Colony, Thackeray asked Mumbaikars not to “project anger” on them. “Don’t get angry at Mumbaikars for me. Don’t change the proposal of the metro shed. Don’t play with the environment of Mumbai,” he said.
In September 2019, the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra Devendra Fadnavis had said that the government was obliged to cut trees in Mumbai’s Aarey forest area because “development is important”.
Uddhav Thackeray resigned on Wednesday after most of his Shiv Sena MLAs joined rebel Eknath Shinde, leading to the collapse of the coalition government.
Eknath Shinde took oath as the CM on Thursday, while former Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis took oath as the deputy. One of the first decisions he took was to reverse the Thackeray government’s decision to move the controversial Metro car shed project out of Mumbai’s green zone.
(with agency input)