Comfortably winning the crucial confidence vote in the Maharashtra State Assembly yesterday, CM Eknath Shinde slammed the Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena for disrespecting the policies of Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray in the last 2.5 years. He said that Shiv Sainiks could not raise voice for Hindutva and could not even speak about Veer Savarkar as Shiv Sena was in alliance with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).
“Shiv Sainiks had the worst experience in the last 2.5 years. Shiv Sena was with Congress and NCP. We Shiv Sainiks were barred from speaking about Hindutva or Veer Savarkar. During the 2.5 years, Congress had once insulted Veer Savarkar but we were not allowed to speak against the Congress. We Shiv Sainiks have suffered a lot in the last 2.5 years”, he said while addressing the assembly.
CM @mieknathshinde told the Assembly that during MaVa govt whenever Congress used to insult Veer Savarkar, Sena members were asked not to raise issue in the Assembly
— iMac_too (@iMac_too) July 4, 2022
Shame on @officeofut pic.twitter.com/oboMtlBuiE
Taking a jibe at the NCP and Congress leaders, Shinde also added that Shiv Sainiks were also forced to keep quiet and were barred from taking action against those who had connections with Dawood. He reiterated that those Shiv Sena leaders who rebelled against the MVA government were a part of Shiv Sena, part of Balasaheb’s Shiv Sena.
“We have been staunch followers of Balasaheb’s and Anand Dighe’s principles who have always thought of people and not power. We will never rebel against their thoughts”, he said. Meanwhile, CM Shinde also stated that he never wanted the power but always wanted Shiv Sena and BJP to be in an alliance. He said that in 2019, BJP had agreed to elect the state Dy CM from Shiv Sena but the party led by Uddhav Thackeray wanted the CM’s chair.
Also, he said that after the MVA alliance was formed, the party had proposed his name for the CM’s chair but former Dy CM Ajit Pawar and his party had refused the proposal, and then Uddhav Thackeray was made the CM. “I didn’t utter a word even then. I supported Shiv Sena. But whatever happened later was not a good experience”, he said. He added that he tried 5 to 6 times to convince Uddhav Thackeray to rejoin hands with BJP but all his attempts failed.
He slammed the Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray and said that it had disrespected Balasaheb Thackeray who himself had allied with BJP in the past. It is important to note that Shiv Sena Supremo Balasaheb Thackeray had said that Shiv Sena would never ally with Sharad Pawar’s NCP. He had used the term scoundrel while rejecting the possibility of any alliance with Pawar. But Shiv Sena joined hands with NCP and Congress in the year 2019 to rule over the state of Maharashtra for 2.5 years.
Yesterday, the Eknath Shinde led government strolled past the majority mark and won the vote of confidence in the state Assembly. The new BJP-Shiv Sena alliance bagged 164 votes in the 288-member Maharashtra Assembly during the floor test conducted on Monday, July 4 and in a major setback, the Uddhav Thackeray-led MVA was able to secure only 99 votes.
After winning the floor test, Maharashtra Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis congratulated CM Eknath Shinde for winning the trust vote and thanked all the MLAs who supported the alliance. Meanwhile, Shinde also expressed gratitude to all the MLAs and lauded BJP for extending massive support. “Our numbers were less (than BJP’s) but PM Narendra Modi blessed us. Modi saheb told me before the swearing-in that he will extend all possible help to me. Amit Shah saheb also said he will stand behind us like a rock,” Shinde was quoted.
