Maharashtra CM Eknath Shinde on Saturday, October 12, took a swipe at Uddhav Thackeray, reminding him that ‘true Shiv Sainiks’ don’t shun ideology. He also added that he had freed Shiv Sena from Maha Vikas Aghadi when he snapped ties with Thackeray.
Speaking at the Dussehra event held in Azad Maidan, CM Shinde said, “Balasaheb Thackeray gave the slogan ‘garv se ka ho hum Hindu hain’ (say with pride that we are Hindu). But some people are shy to say this now. We are proud to say these slogans.”
Adding insult to injury, Shinde said he “freed” Shiv Sena from the Maha Vikas Aghadi when he ended ties with Uddhav Thackeray.
In a dig at Thackeray, Shinde said, “A true Shiv Sainik doesn’t shun his ideology,” in an apparent reference to Shiv Sena’s alliance with Congress and NCP.
Shinde also spoke on how his government remained steadfast against predictions of its downfall.”They kept predicting our government would collapse but one Eknath Shinde was enough to handle them,” he said.
Eknath Shinde became the Chief Minister of Maharashtra after he and around 42 MLAs supporting him had rebelled against the MVA-led government and the Shiv Sena party led by Uddhav Thackeray. He had demanded the re-alliance of the BJP and Shiv Sena to which former CM Uddhav Thackeray had refused.
The rebel camp led by CM Eknath Shinde first went to Surat and from there it travelled to a hotel in Assam’s Guwahati. The rebel Shiv Sena leaders had claimed that Shiv Sena led by Uddhav Thackeray had forgotten the principles of the party supremo Balasaheb Thackeray and that it had also forgotten its agenda of Hindutva.
