Mumbai, July 1: Former Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday lashed out at the BJP for giving the Chief Ministerial slot to Eknath Shinde, a rebel Shiv Sena leader, and said had the former ally partner agreed to this earlier, there would have been no Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) in the state.
The Shiv Sena and the BJP had parted ways after the 2019 Assembly elections in the state after the former demanded 2.5 years of Chief Ministership each for both parties during the term of five years, which the latter had not agreed to.
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The Shiv Sena had then stitched an alliance with the rival NCP and the Congress to form the government. Talking about the swearing-in ceremony of Eknath Shinde who was appointed as the Chief Minister and Devendra Fadnavis who was sworn in as his Deputy, Uddhav Thackeray said, "About what happened on Thursday, I had told Amit Shah earlier as well that there should be a Shiv Sena CM for 2.5 years (during Shiv Sena-BJP alliance). Had they done this earlier, there would've been no Maha Vikas Aghadi."
Hitting out at Shinde, who led the revolt against him for over a week which culminated in the resignation of Thackeray from the office, the Shiv Sena chief said the new CM was not from his party which the BJP had aimed at making. He said he had told Union Home Minister Amit Shah in 2019 about the distribution of Chief Ministerial post for 2.5 years each.
"The manner in which the government has been formed and a so-called Shiv Sena worker has been made CM, I had said the same to Amit Shah. This could've been done respectfully. The Shiv Sena was officially with you (at that time). This CM (Eknath Shinde) is not a Shiv Sena CM," Thackeray said.
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Slamming the new government for its decision to build the metro car shed in Mumbai's Aarey colony, which the earlier Devendra Fadnavis government had termed important, Thackeray asked not to "project anger" for him on Mumbaikars.
"Don't project anger for me on Mumbaikars. Don't change the proposal for the metro shed. Don't toy with the environment of Mumbai," he said.
In September 2019, then Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said the government was bound to cut trees in Mumbai's Aarey forest area as "development is important".
-PTC News
