'From sena to Shiv Sena': Tej Pratap Yadav's remark against PM Modi over Agnipath, Maha crisis

While the Centre has been facing a severe backlash by the opposition over the recently announced Agnipath scheme, Maharashtra is dealing with a political crisis as Eknath Shinde and other MLAs camp against Thackeray.

Lalu Prasad Yadav's MLA son Tej Pratap Yadav on Thursday took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the Agnipath scheme and Maharashtra political crisis. Connecting the two issues and calling it an “amazing masterstroke”, the RJD MLA sarcastically said that PM diverted the attention from the “sena" (army) to Shiv Sena.

Tej Pratap Yadav (PTI File)

“Wow..! What an art by chai wala! Divert the attention from Army to Shiv Sena. Amazing masterstroke..!” Tej Pratap Yadav wrote in Hindi on Twitter.

The Centre has been facing a severe backlash by the opposition over the recently announced Agnipath scheme - under which recruits - 'Agniveers' - will serve a four-year term after which only 2 will be retained. The scheme triggered massive protests with several incidents of violence being reported from over 10 states. Protesters set trains on fire, torched vehicles, and damaged both private and public properties.

However, amid this, top military officials from all three branches - Army, Navy, and Air Force - stressed that the scheme will not be rolled back.

Meanwhile, on Monday, rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, along with a few other MLAs, went incommunicado and travelled to Surat resulting in a massive political crisis in Maharashtra. Hours after this, the Shiv Sena removed the rebel lawmaker as the party's leader in the House. Soon after, rebel MLAs passed a resolution signed by 34 MLAs calling Shinde the party’s head.

The rebel MLA who is camping in Assam's Guwahati with his rebels has claimed the support of around 40 MLAs, including independent legislators. On Wednesday, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray broke his silence and gave an emotional address about the crisis.