Don’t comment on alliance: Uddhav Thackeray, Fadnavis tell legislators

In a joint address to the MLAs and MLCs of the two parties at Vidhan Bhavan, Fadnavis and Thackeray asked the members to get into poll mode.

In an attempt to keep a united front ahead of the state Assembly polls, Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday issued a diktat to all their legislators – ‘Do not make statements on the alliance, particularly about sharing the chief minister’s post.’

Thackeray and Fadnavis, in their respective speeches, reiterated that the alliance is strong and here to stay. (HT file)

In a joint address to the members of legislative assembly (MLAs) and members of legislative council (MLCs) of the two parties at Vidhan Bhavan, Fadnavis and Thackeray asked the members to get into poll mode and not get complacent after the victory in the Lok Sabha polls.

In the meeting that lasted around 20 minutes, Thackeray and Fadnavis, in their respective speeches, reiterated that the alliance is strong and here to stay. “The tone and message of the CM and Uddhavji was that nobody should comment on anything related to the alliance or the power-sharing agreement. These things have been decided between three people — the CM, Uddhavji and Amit Shah,” said a Sena minister, who was part of the meeting.

The bone of contention between the Sena and BJP is the sharing of the chief minister’s post equally, along with other posts. BJP leaders, including Chandrakant Patil, Sudhir Mungantiwar and Girish Mahajan, have been making statements that the next CM will be from their party. Thackeray was reportedly irked by Mahajan’s statement. On Monday, Mahajan met Thackeray at the Sena headquarters where he clarified the statement and expressed regret over it. A Sena functionary said, “Leaders from both the sides should be mindful of what they say, as it could have an impact on the ties between the two parties.”