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Why didn’t BJP share CM post with Shiv Sena earlier: Uddhav Thackeray
Uddhav Thackeray has removed Eknath Shinde from the post of “Shiv Sena leader” in the party organisation
Mumbai A day after Eknath Shinde took over as the Maharashtra chief minister, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) did not honour its 2019 promise of rotating the top post and added that it has now installed a “so-called Shiv Sainik” as the CM.
Thackeray also removed Shinde from the post of “Shiv Sena leader” in the party organisation. In a letter that surfaced late on Friday, Thackeray said Shinde indulged in “anti-party activities” and voluntarily gave up his Shiv Sena membership.
“In exercise of the powers vested in me as the Shivsena Paksha Pramukha, I remove you from the post of Shivsena Leader in the party organisation,” the letter signed by Thackeray said.
The letter was dated June 30, the day Shinde took oath as chief minister with the support of the BJP after he and majority of Sena MLAs rebelled against Thackeray. Thackeray stepped down as chief minister on June 29.
Speaking for the first time after he quit as the chief minister, Thackeray questioned the legitimacy of CM Shinde by calling him a “so-called Shiv Sainik”. He also expressed shock over the BJP’s decision to appoint Shinde as the new chief minister. “Those who have formed the new government, I want to tell them that they have made a so-called Shiv Sainik the CM. You (BJP) cannot have Sena’s CM by sidelining the party. I was saying the same thing two and a half years ago. The same formula was decided between me and Amit Shah that the Shiv Sena and the BJP will share the CM position for half term each. Whatever is happening today would have happened respectfully,” Thackeray said.
“Why did the BJP do it now and not then when the Shiv Sena was officially with you in the state and at Centre,” Thackeray said.
“Had the BJP respected the agreement, there would have been no MVA and a BJP leader would have been CM today,” he said, pointing out that as a Shiv Sena CM, he held the post for two and a half years.
He also made an appeal to the new government in the state to not go ahead with its plan of building a metro car shed in the Aarey Colony area of Mumbai. In one of its first decisions after it came to power, the Shinde government decided to go ahead with the controversial Aarey Colony car shed project.
“I am very upset. If you are angry with me, then vent out your anger, but don’t stab Mumbai in the heart. I am very upset that the Aarey decision has been overturned. This is not a personal property,” Thackeray said.
After coming to power in 2019, Thackeray decided to scrap the decision of the previous Devendra Fadnavis government to build the car shed in Aarey Colony, a forested area adjoining the Sanjay Gandhi National Park. Environmental activists opposed the cutting of trees in Aarey for the car shed.
“For the benefit of Mumbaikars, the car shed should only be made on the land proposed by the Supreme Court in order to start the metro service,” Fadnavis, who has taken charge as the deputy CM of Maharashtra, said.
Shiv Sena MLA Deepak Kesarkar, who was addressing a briefing in Goa, said: “Uddhav Thackeray is a big stature leader and we won’t speak against him. We will speak to him at the right time. All the misunderstandings will be sorted out.”
The Shiv Sena-BJP government in Maharashtra is likely to face a floor test by July 4, an official said on Friday. BJP MLA Rahul Narvekar filed the nomination on Friday for the post of assembly Speaker.
Rajendra Bhagwat, principal secretary, state legislature, confirmed that the Speaker’s election will be held through voice vote. “Speaker election will be held through voice vote. Once the new Speaker is elected, the House will decide when the floor test will have to be conducted (July 3 or 4),” Bhagwat said.
Congress leader Balasaheb Thorat questioned Governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari’s decision on allowing the Speaker election. “We were too requesting the Governor to allow us to hold Speaker elections by giving a letter. We took three delegations at separate occasions and requested Koshyari for permission but he said that the case is subjudice and thus he cannot allow it. I want to know on what basis he has allowed the Speaker election now,” Thorat said.
With inputs from PTI
