Following the Maharashtra BJP president Chandrakant Patil’s remark that the BJP had accepted rebel Shiv Sena leader Eknath Shinde as Maharahstra’s Chief Minister with a “heavy heart”, Sena MP and Uddhav Thackeray loyalist Sanjay Raut on July 24 said the statement indicated that the Shinde-Devendra Fadnavis government will not last more than six months.
“While there is not a culture of freedom of speech within the BJP, Mr. Patil ought to be commended for speaking his mind [that the BJP reluctantly accepted Mr. Shinde as CM instead of Mr. Fadnavis]…his remarks indicate that Mr. Shinde is merely CM in a temporary arrangement and will soon be ousted,” Mr. Raut said, adding that the rebel Shinde faction was in for a jolt.
On July 23, at the BJP’s State Executive meet in Panvel, Mr. Patil had raised eyebrows when he said it was “with a heavy heart” that the BJP had made Mr. Shinde the CM.
