‘It is revolt not betrayal, we aren’t traitors’: Eknath Shinde in victory speech

In his first speech after the newly formed government led by him won the trust vote in the state assembly, Eknath Shinde said Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis was the real “kalakar” (artist) behind the government formation.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde on Monday said he was suppressed for a long time and his rebellion against the Shiv Sena leadership was a fallout of the unfair treatment meted out to him.

Newly elected Chief Minister Eknath Shinde , Thane for the first time after becoming Chief Minister and visited the Samadhi of his Guru Anand Dighe in Thane. (Praful Gangurde / HT)

In his first speech after the newly formed government led by him won the trust vote in the state assembly, Shinde said Bharatiya Janata Party leader Devendra Fadnavis was the real “kalakar” (artist) behind the government formation.

“We used to meet while my group MLAs were asleep and return (to Guwahati) before they woke up,” Shinde said. “The one who orchestrated everything is here,” Shinde said, pointing to Fadnavis.

“The happenings of today didn’t happen in just one day,” Shinde said. In his speech, Shinde referred to his roots as a Shiv Sena worker.

In his 74-minute-long address to the assembly, Shinde addressed several issues — why he revolted, why more than two-third Shiv Sena MLAs joined his rebellion and why the BJP was a natural choice for an alliance.

“We are not traitors, we revolted (against the leadership) because of what was happening,” Shinde said. He mentioned two instances, saying he was denied the chance to take up top posts by the party leadership.

“I had been told that I would be the chief minister when MVA government was being formed but later I was told the NCP was opposed to the same,” said Shinde. In his address to people through social media before he quit, Thackeray said he did not want to be the chief minister but it was NCP chief Sharad Pawar who insisted that the Sena chief take up the post.

Shinde also criticised Pawar, who raised doubts over the survival of the Shinde-Fadnavis government, and asserted that his government will complete its term

“Sharad Pawar is a big leader, but whatever he says is just the opposite of fact. So we will complete 2.5yrs of governance; next time, we’ll have 200 MLAs, 100 ours and 100 BJP’s,” Shinde said at a news briefing later in the day.

Shinde also hit out at Sena leaders, especially Sanjay Raut. “Some people pointed out that our legislators began as streetside vendors or autorickshaw drivers. We were proud of what we did for a living. We were not born with a silver spoon in mouth,” he said.

“I didn’t force anyone (any Sena MLAs) to come with me. Nobody put a gun to anyone’s head,” said Shinde as he tried to come clean on the Sena’s allegations that some MLAs were taken away forcibly.

On the day the Shinde-led government won the trust vote, Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray targeted the BJP, saying it was scheming to finish his party, and dared it to hold mid-term elections in the state.

Addressing a meeting of Sena district presidents at the Shiv Sena Bhawan, the former chief minister, who resigned after Shinde’s revolt, said it was an insult to the Constitution to run the assembly arbitrarily.