Uddhav Thackeray says will quit Sena if ‘you think I am useless’, lauds Congress and NCP, denounces ‘backstabbers’
Maharashtra political crisis: Uddhav Thackeray was addressing Shiv Sena corporators on Eknath Shinde’s rebellion.
Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray, facing revolt by the Shiv Sena MLAs, made an emotional pitch to the party’s corporators in a virtual address on Friday. He said those who used to say they would rather die than quit the party, have “backstabbed us”. He lauded Sharad Pawar and Sonia Gandhi for supporting him at the time of the crisis, and said he would distance himself from Shiv Sena if the corporators thought he was “useless and incapable”. He said he had an inkling about Eknath Shinde’s rebellion. He said the leader had approached and accused NCP, Congress of trying to finish Shiv Sena.
“A few days ago when I suspected something like this, I called Eknath Shinde and told him to perform his duty of taking Shiv Sena forward, doing this isn’t right. He told me that NCP-Congress were trying to finish us and MLAs want us to go with BJP. I told him to bring me the MLAs who want it,” Thackeray said.
He said the BJP defamed Shiv Sena, his family, hence, MLAs can join the party if they want but he won’t.
“If someone wants to go — be it an MLA or someone else — come and tell us and then go,” Thackeray added.
“If you think I`m useless and incapable of running the party, tell me. I’m ready to separate myself from the party, you can tell me. You respected me so far because Balasaheb said so. If you say I am incapable, then I am ready to quit the party right at this moment,” he said.
Thackeray said Pawar and Gandhi, his MVA allies, supported the Shiv Sena but “our own people have backstabbed us”.
“We gave tickets to people who could not have won and we made them victorious. Those people have backstabbed us. The people who used to say that they would rather die than leave Shiv Sena have fled today,” he added.
Eknath Shinde, a close Thackeray confidante, is camping in a Guwahati hotel with over 40 Shiv Sena MLAs. He has demanded that Thackeray break his “unnatural” alliance with ideologically opposite Congress and NCP, and form a government in alliance with BJP.
The Shiv Sena has appealed to the MLAs to end their rebellion saying their proposal would be discussed. Meanwhile, the party is reportedly gearing up for the floor test.
This story has not been edited by News Mania staff and is published from a syndicated feed
Photo: Internet
