The Deputy Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Devendra Fadnavis, criticized the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) and its leader Uddhav Thackeray for targeting Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying that it was only increasing his popularity. Fadnavis also claimed that issues related to development and farmers were absent from Thackeray’s recent speech. Meanwhile, Thackeray’s faction’s plea challenging last year’s change of guard in Maharashtra is pending arbitration in the Supreme Court. Thackeray said in a public meeting that elections could happen anytime and that his party was prepared for them. The Shiv Sena had split into rival factions, with Eknath Shinde forming a breakaway front with over 40 loyalists. The breakaway camp eventually joined hands with the BJP to bring down the MVA government. The BJP and the rival Sena camp later formed the government, with Shinde becoming the chief minister and Fadnavis his deputy. Thackeray also challenged the BJP to declare that it would contest the next Maharashtra elections under the leadership of Shinde, accusing the rival camp of stealing others’ ideals and the names of someone’s father and mother to contest elections.
Hitting out at the Eknath Shinde camp, Uddhav Thackeray said, “You do not have any ideal of your own and neither do you have any leader. So, you steal others’ ideals and the names of someone’s father and mother to contest elections. I challenged the BJP earlier and will do so again. I dare them to declare that they will contest the coming elections under the leadership of Eknath Shinde,” he said.
Uddhav Thackeray, the head of the Shiv Sena, criticized the Eknath Shinde camp and accused them of lacking ideals and leaders of their own. He alleged that they steal other people’s ideas and even use their parents’ names to contest elections. Thackeray also challenged the BJP to declare that they would contest the next Maharashtra elections under the leadership of Eknath Shinde.
