‘Maharashtra CM ailing, should hand over charge to someone else’: BJP on Uddhav Thackeray

The chief minister should preferably hand over charge to his son and state tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray, said Chandrakant Patil, the Maharashtra BJP president.

Chandrakant Patil, the chief of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in Maharashtra, said on Wednesday that chief minister Uddhav Thackeray, a former ally of the party, should hand over the charge to ‘someone else’ if, due to his own ill health, he cannot physically attend the winter session of the state legislature assembly.

Maharashtra BJP President Chandrakant (File Photo/PTI)

“It is natural for the CM to be absent as he is ill. Therefore, he should hand over the charge to somebody else without any hesitation,” Patil said, speaking to the media ahead of the commencement of the winter session.

This ‘someone else’ should preferably be a person from the Thackeray-headed Shiv Sena, or the chief minister's own son, state tourism minister Aaditya Thackeray, the Maharashtra BJP president further said. “This is because there is a possibility that the CM doesn't trust the Congress and the NCP,” Patil remarked.

The Shiv Sena, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and Congress together govern the western state as constituents of the ruling Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA).

Patil, meanwhile, also said that the BJP ‘will not accept’ Thackeray's absence from the legislature session.

However, responding to the BJP leader, state water resources minister and NCP leader Jayant Patil said that the chief minister is in 'good health,' and can come to the legislature anytime, though he is currently working from home.

The BJP and the Sena together governed Maharashtra from 2014 to 2019, and were victorious in the assembly elections held in November two years ago. The two went separate ways after an impasse over the chief minister's post, with the Sena joining hands with the NCP and Congress to form the MVA.

Recently, Union home minister Amit Shah described the MVA as a ‘punctured autorickshaw,’ adding that the alliance represents the culture of ‘dealer, broker and transfer.’

Last month, Union minister Narayan Rane said that by March next year, the BJP will have regained power in Maharashtra.

(with PTI inputs)