Claiming that the tripartite Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government of the Shiv Sena, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress) in Maharashtra was no longer in existence after Shiv Sena Minister Eknath Shinde intra-party rebellion, Union Minister and senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Narayan Rane on Tuesday called upon Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray to voluntarily tender his resignation.
“It is a question mark whether Uddhav Thackeray knows the Constitution. Of your [Shiv Sena’s] 56 MLAs, 35 have left [siding with Mr. Shinde]…You are in a minority. What is he [Mr. Thackeray] waiting for? Ideally, he should have submitted his resignation to the Governor,” said Mr. Rane.
Congratulating Mr. Shinde on his decision, Mr. Rane — a former Shiv Sainik and Mr. Thackeray’s bitter rival — alleged that the voices of true Shiv Sainiks had been stifled by the Thackeray family all this while and accused Mr. Uddhav Thackeray of repeatedly insulting and sidelining Mr. Shinde by making hollow promises.
“Uddhav Thackeray has never known how to keep his word… Nobody except ‘Matoshree’ [Mr. Thackeray’s private residence] had the right to do anything during the Thackeray regime. Despite promising to make Mr. Shinde the Chief Minister and get him to incur expenditure during elections, Mr. Thackeray himself became CM,” the BJP leader said.
Mr. Rane further said that Mr. Shinde was Urban Development Minister in name only, with the actual signing on files being done by Aaditya Thackeray (Mr. Uddhav Thackeray’s son) and his cousin, Varun Sardesai.
“Finally, all this resulted in Eknath Shinde’s self-respect being hurt…I commend him on his decision. It is a very good thing from Maharashtra’s point of view given that the State has seen no development in the last two-and-a-half-years and only politics of malice being practised by the MVA,” said the BJP leader.
Mr. Rane said the very fact that Mr. Shinde reportedly told the Sena leaders who tried to parley with him in Surat that he would think of going back to the Sena only if it left its alliance with the NCP and the Congress proved that the MVA’s formation had been a big mistake.
