As Maharashtra remained embroiled in the current political crisis, state tourism minister and CM Uddhav Thackeray’s son Aaditya Thackeray took a dig at rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, who is leading a rebellion against the party with a large number of leaders.
According to media reports, Aaditya Thackeray talked about how he regrets making “watchmen, rickshaw pullers and paan sellers” ministers in the Maharashtra government, a comment which has since sparked a controversy in the state.
According to news agency ANI, the Maharashtra tourism minister said, “Many people told us that Congress and NCP will betray us but our people betrayed us. Many MLAs who were watchmen, rickshaw drivers, and paan shopkeepers – we made them Ministers. On 20th May, Uddhav Thackeray offered him (Eknath Shinde) the CM post and he did drama.”
This statement by Aaditya Thackeray is expected to be a dig at rebel Shiv Sena MLA Eknath Shinde, who used to be an auto-rickshaw driver before his stint as a politician. Shinde triggered a rebellion in the Shiv Sena government, rallying support from many MLAs against the Uddhav Thackeray leadership.
The rebel leaders led by Eknath Shinde, who is currently residing in a luxury hotel in BJP-ruled Assam, have been urging Shiv Sena to break away from the Maha Vikar Aghadi alliance and dismantle their partnership with the Congress and NCP.
Earlier, Aaditya Thackeray claimed that 15-20 MLAs from Shinde’s camp got in touch with the party and urged them to get them back from Guwahati. He further claimed that many of these MLAs have been “kidnapped” and are forced to stay in Assam against their will.
As per PTI, Aaditya Thackeray said, “Around 15-20 MLAs are in touch with us. Their situation is like that of a prisoner. They call me and Shiv Sainiks and urged us to bring them back from Guwahati.”
The Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena is currently facing an uncertain situation as the majority of their 55 MLAs have sided with Eknath Shinde in the current rebellion. The Thackeray government has been trying to coax the MLAs back to no avail as of now.
(With inputs from agencies)
READ | Maharashtra political crisis: Rebel Shiv Sena MLAs likely to extend stay in Guwahati
