The Shiv Sena faction, led by current Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde, dropped a bombshell on Tuesday by claiming that Uddhav Thackeray wanted to have an alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party in June 2021. The Shiv Sena president even had a chat with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard, however, it did not work out.
The Shiv Sena’s Thackeray faction, including Uddhav’s son Aaditya, however denied any such proposal or discussions on it, and accused the rebels of cooking up stories to defame the party.
Shiv Sena member of parliament (MP) from Mumbai South Central, Rahul Shewale, who is the new group leader of the party in Lok Sabha, referred to the June 8, 2021, meeting between Modi and Thackeray in New Delhi in which talks of BJP and Shiv Sena coming together again were discussed.
“The meeting was for about an hour,” said Shewale, clarifying that the plan did not work out as a few days later, 12 BJP MLAs in Maharashtra were suspended during the Monsoon session of Maharashtra Legislature.
“…the BJP leadership thought that on one hand they (Shiv Sena) were speaking of forming an alliance with the BJP (again) and on the other hand, they were suspending BJP MLAs. So, they were also not happy over it…,” Shewale said, and claimed that Uddhav himself had told them about this when the MPs met him, in wake of Shinde’s stand on June 21, 2022.
Shewale also said that he met Shinde and BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis several times. He also pointed out that the Shiv Sena had not given any letter of withdrawal of support to the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance.
Reacting to the charges, Aaditya said that the hatred and jealousy the Shinde faction harboured was coming out. “The person who made the statement…there is different news about him,” Aaditya said about Shewale and the allegations made by a woman. “I don’t know why he is making the statement today,” he said, adding the reality is that the grassroots are with the parent party.
Aaditya also said that when Uddhav met Modi, the then Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar and his Public Works counterpart Ashok Chavan, too, were present.
Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut said: “We must not give much importance to such statements".
Explaining the lack of a formal letter of withdrawal from the NDA, Raut said: “Why?…are we supposed to give an affidavit to the court? We are not part of NDA…as regards Presidential elections, we have supported Droupadi Murmu, as far as Vice-President election is concerned, the party has decided to support Margaret Alva and you have to abide by it.”
Shiv Sena chief spokesperson and Lok Sabha MP Arvind Sawant said, “If they wanted an alliance with BJP, why have these people formed a new group?”