'Gang war' has broken out in Maharashtra govt, claims Uddhav after firing by BJP MLA on Sena man

'PM Modi should understand that the state BJP unit has weakened due to the trend of breaking other parties and the induction of leaders into its fold,' he said.

Mumbai: In a scathing attack on the BJP, former Maharashtra Chief Minister and Shiv Sena (UBT) supremp Uddhav Thackeray on Sunday said that that a gangwar seems to have broken out within the Maha Yuti dispensation as the BJP has been weakened by the splitting of other parties and their leaders joining the NDA-fold.

Thackeray’s comments came in the wake of Friday night’s incident wherein Kalyan East BJP MLA Ganpat Gaikwad fired half a dozen bullets at his political opponent Mahesh Gaikwad, the Ulhasnagar unit chief of the Eknath Shinde-led Shiv Sena.

In may be mentioned that Thackeray’s Maha Vikas Aghadi was toppled after Shinde staged a rebellion in June-July 2022, and with the help of the BJP formed a new government, which, a year later, was strengthen with the inclusion of Ajit Pawar of the NCP—who rebelled against his party’s founder Sharad Pawar. In both political developments, BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis, a former Chief Minister and ex-Leader of the Opposition, played a key role.

While Shinde is Chief Minister, the two Deputy Chief Ministers are Fadnavis and Ajit Pawar.

Addressing a rally at Sawantwadi in Sindhudurg district on Sunday, Thackeray said the previous Shiv-Sena BJP government in the nineties had broken the backbone of the underworld.

"But now, in the present government, a gang war has broken out. While we have seen the gangwar between two gangs. The third gang is neck deep in the Rs 70,000-crore irrigation scam and hence has no time to raise its head," Thackeray said.

According to him, this is a clear indication that the BJP has been weakened because of the induction of leaders from other parties within its fold, and insisted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should realise the same.