“Ahead of the 2019 polls, Amit Shah had come to our house where the power-sharing deal was discussed.
It was assured to me that the post of chief minister will be shared for 2.5 years,” news agency PTI quoted Uddhav Thackeray as saying.
Uddhav Thackeray also claimed that when he asked whether Devendra Fadnavis would work under such a young person who had just started his electoral career, Devendra Fadnavis replied that he would go to Delhi to join the Union government.
To hide one falsehood, another lie is being told,” Devendra Fadnavis said.
You will get a befitting reply," Devendra Fadnavis wrote.
Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis have engaged in a fresh political blame game after the former claimed that the then chief minister Fadnavis had assured him in 2019 that he would groom his son Aaditya Thackeray as the next CM, while he will move to Delhi to join the Union cabinet, as part of the power-sharing agreement between the erstwhile Shiv Sena-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance. Devendra Fadnavis and Uddhav Thackeray(File)
Addressing a poll-bound rally in Mumbai's Antop Hill for his party’s candidate from Mumbai South Central, Anil Desai on Saturday, Uddhav Thackeray claimed that the then BJP chief and current Union home minister Amit Shah had visited him at Matoshree to seek an alliance with Shiv Sena (undivided).
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“Ahead of the 2019 polls, Amit Shah had come to our house where the power-sharing deal was discussed. It was assured to me that the post of chief minister will be shared for 2.5 years,” news agency PTI quoted Uddhav Thackeray as saying.
Emphasising the promise and later on being allegedly cheated, the Shiv Sena (UBT) leader further claimed that when Devendra Fadnavis came with Amit Shah to the late Balasaheb Thackeray's room, Amit Shah made him wait outside. "For us, Balasaheb's room is a very holy place. The promise of power-sharing was given to us in that room and later broken," he said.
Uddhav Thackeray also claimed that when he asked whether Devendra Fadnavis would work under such a young person who had just started his electoral career, Devendra Fadnavis replied that he would go to Delhi to join the Union government.
Devendra Fadnavis, who is currently serving as a deputy chief minister in the Eknath Shinde-led Mahayuti government, hit back at at the allegations saying that Uddhav Thackeray has "lost his mind" and might be "hallucinating".
“Uddhav Thackeray has become 'bhramishta' (delirious). He is hallucinating. Initially, he said Amit Shah promised him a chief ministership in some room. Now, he says I promised to make his son a CM. To hide one falsehood, another lie is being told,” Devendra Fadnavis said.
In a post on X, the BJP leader said slammed the Sena (UBT) chief saying the social cause of Maharashtra is not a “Salim-Javed” script and the public will give a befitting reply.
"We respect late Balasaheb Thackeray because he was always true to his word and never deviated from his ideals. We don't respect those who sacrificed the ideals of the late leader. Who are you trying to fool by speaking imagined scripts? You are misleading yourself. You have nothing to do with politics and development. So don't try to get involved in such scripts. You will get a befitting reply," Devendra Fadnavis wrote.
CM Eknath Shinde also took a dig at Thackeray, saying that there is a limit to speaking lies on the party of the UBT leader.
"He wanted to become chief minister. As he couldn't become a CM when he was part of the Shiv Sena-BJP alliance, he switched sides," Shinde said while referring to Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (undivided) joining hands with the NCP (undivided) and the Congress post the 2019 assembly elections.
Notably, a split engineered by Shinde led to the collapse of the Thackeray-led MVA government in June 2022.
(With inputs from agencies)
