Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Friday said the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena demanded from him Rs 50 crore which the undivided party had collected through donations, and it showed that the Thackeray group only craves money.
He returned this money, Shinde said, talking to reporters after the Monsoon session of the state legislature ended here.
Shiv Sena (UBT) leaders Subhash Desai and Anil Desai wrote to him on the party's letterhead with a bow-and-arrow symbol, asking for a deposit of Rs 50 crore which was in the party's name, he said.
Shinde, who split the Shiv Sena last year and toppled the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi government, had also mentioned this in the assembly earlier in the day.
"They had no right to demand the money collected from donations as it belongs to the Sena workers. The Election Commission of India gave the party name and symbol to us. The demand shows that these people only love money and not the Sena workers and Balasaheb Thackeray's ideology," the chief minister said.
Asked about his comments in the assembly about a meeting at a five-star hotel in the city with a "close aide" of Uddhav Thackeray, Shinde said, "A meeting did take place, and this person, whom I do not want to name, said derogatory things about the former CM (Thackeray).....I can speak about it at an appropriate time."
Instead of levelling allegations against him, Thackeray should introspect why "50 MLAs, 13 MPs, several corporators are leaving him and joining (the party espousing) Balasaheb's ideology," he said.
The chief minister termed the session as "successful and fruitful."
"We took several important decisions for the welfare of the state. Yesterday we took a decision about offering free treatment at public hospitals," he said.
Speaking at the same press conference, Deputy Chief Minister and finance minister Ajit Pawar said resource mobilisation was necessary and he will work on increasing tax collection.
He was replying to a question about supplementary demands of more than Rs 40,000 crore. The government was positive about taking over the ND Studio of art director Nitin Desai, but first we should wait for information about why he took the extreme step (of ending life) to come out in the police investigation, Pawar said.
Asked about confusion about the exact number of Nationalist Congress Party MLAs supporting him, Pawar, who split the party last week and joined the Sena-BJP government, said, "I want to keep you confused."
On a question about NCP MLAs of his faction signing the Assembly muster and leaving without taking part in the proceedings, Pawar said, "Do not worry about my MLAs."