Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray on July 9 said had the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) honoured the “decision” taken before the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election on sharing of the chief ministerial post, the BJP workers would not have been required to carry “carpets” of other parties now.
Mr. Thackeray began a two-day tour of the Vidarbha region in Maharashtra to engage with party workers in view of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections due next year. Both the BJP and the Congress are considered strong in the region.
Speaking in Yavatmal town, the former Chief Minister said that the sharing of the chief ministerial post was “decided” between him and Union Home Minister Amit Shah before the 2019 Assembly election.
“Before the 2019 polls, Mr. Shah and I decided that the Shiv Sena and the BJP will have its Chief Minister for two-and-a-half years each. Today, the BJP and Shiv Sena Chief Ministers would have completed their tenure. If that had been done, the old BJP workers would have not been required to pick up the carpets of other parties,” he said.
After the 2019 Assembly election, Mr. Thackeray snapped ties with long-term ally BJP and joined hands with the Congress and the Nationalist Congress Party(NCP). The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition was formed and Mr. Thackeray became the Chief Minister. However, in June last, Shiv Sena leader and then Minister Eknath Shinde led a vertical split in the party and toppled the MVA government. With the support of the BJP, Mr. Shinde became the Chief Minister and recently completed one year in office.
NCP split
Mr. Thackeray also expressed curiosity over how the BJP would manage their new coalition with the recent entrants from the Ajit Pawar-led NCP faction. “I am waiting to see how the BJP handles its new riff-raff,” he said.
On July 2, Mr. Ajit Pawar with a group of MLAs revolted against his uncle and party supremo Sharad Pawar and took oath as Deputy Chief Minister. Eight other NCP MLAs also took oath as Cabinet Ministers.
Disqualification petion
Asked about the petitions seeking disqualification of the 16 Shiv Sena MLAs, Mr. Thackeray noted that the Supreme Court had already provided a framework for the Maharashtra Assembly Speaker to make a decision. He said if the Speaker attempted to circumvent this framework, the “doors of the Supreme Court remains open to us”.
“The Speaker must make decisions within the parameters set by the Court. If any decision falls outside of this scope, we will pursue legal recourse by seeking justice from the Supreme Court,” he said.
On Saturday, Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar said he issued notices to 40 MLAs of the Mr. Shinde-led Shiv Sena and 14 of the Thackeray faction, seeking their replies on the disqualification petitions against them. These legislators have been given seven days to file their reply.
Mr. Thackeray said the BJP was not competent to say anything and they should stop levelling allegations against others and handle those they have taken along with them. “I do not think the BJP deserves anything to be said about it. It has no right to preach us,” he said.
‘PM’s charisma fading’
While addressing a rally at Digras in Yavatmal district in the evening, the Sena leader said Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s charisma had faded, which was witnessed in the recent Karnataka Assembly election. He said the BJP’s “one nation, one party” plan would never be accepted. “One nation, one law can be understood. But we will never accept one nation, one party plan of the BJP,” he said.
On the second day of his tour, the Sena leader will also visit Akola and Nagpur before returning to Mumbai.
