A day after Shiv Sena rebel Eknath Shinde was sworn in as Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, his predecessor and party president Uddhav Thackeray said that this was the exact proposal over which his party and the then BJP president Amit Shah had agreed upon and had it been respected then, the experiment of Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) would never have happened. Countering BJP’s claim that it elevated a Sena worker at the top post, Mr Thackeray claimed that Mr Shinde is not Sena’s Chief Minister.
“What has happened yesterday was our exact proposal in 2019 to Amit Shah and the BJP. Why didn’t the BJP accept the proposal then? And why have they done this now? Had the BJP respected our agreement, the experiment of Maha Vikas Aghadi would never have happened,” said Mr Thackeray, addressing a press conference at party headquarter Sena bhavan. He did not take any questions.
Mr Shinde was sworn in as the Chief Minister along with Mr Fadnavis who took the oath as the deputy CM, amid high-drama throughout the day. Mr Thackeray resigned on June 29 night, after Supreme Court refused to stay the call for floor test by governor Bhagat Singh Koshyari.
