Uddhav Thackeray likens Shiv Sena rebels to ‘rotten leaves’
Mumbai :
Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday compared Eknath Shinde-led rebel party leaders to “rotten leaves” of a tree and demanded fresh elections in Maharashtra to determine which faction has the support of the people in the state. “The people we will either vote for us or support them. It will be clear once and for all,” the former CM said.
A rebellion led by Shiv Sena veteran Eknath Shinde and 39 MLAs led to the collapse of the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government last month. Shinde was sworn in as the chief minister on June 30 with Devendra Fadnavis of BJP as deputy CM.
Thackeray said it was a mistake that he trusted some of the party leaders too much. Asked who could be blamed for the rebellion, he said, “Looks like I put too much trust in some Sena workers and leaders. It is my mistake to have trusted them for such a long time.”
Uddhav also blamed the BJP for trying to break Shiv Sena. “The BJP is not only trying to break the Shiv Sena but also trying to appropriate great leaders of other parties,” Thackeray alleged.
“The way they tried to appropriate Sardar Patel from the Congress, they are doing the same thing with my late father, Balasaheb Thackeray, who founded the Shiv Sena,” he claimed.
