Had Shah kept his word, there wouldn’t have been MVA Govt, says Thackeray
A day after rebel Sena leader Eknath Shinde replaced him as the Maharashtra Chief Minister, Shiv Sena president and former Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Friday slammed the BJP for installing “so-called” Shiv Sainik Shinde as the Chief Minister, after reneging on the pre-2019 poll promise of rotating the  CM’s post.

He also removed Shinde from the post of Shiv Sena leader in the party organisation.

Talking to the media at the Shiv Sena Bhavan, Uddhav questioned the manner in which the BJP has gone about forming the Government and said Shinde, who deserted his party, could not be termed  a “Shiv Sena” CM.

“The manner in which the BJP formed a Government and appointed a so-called Shiv Sainik as the Chief Minister surprises me. After the 2019 Assembly polls, I was talking about sharing the Chief Minister’s post on a rotational basis. Shiv Sena and the BJP had reached an understanding over the rotational Chief Ministership. Had then BJP president Amit Shah kept his word, there would not have been an MVA Government,” Uddhav said.

“Had the BJP accepted the formula of the rotational Chief Minister, then it would have given the CM’s post to the Shiv Sena for the first two and a half years and had its Chief Minister for the remaining term of two and half years. What has the BJP gained now it doesn’t have its own Chief Minister even for the rest of the term,” said the Sena president.

Late at night, in a letter issued by the party,  Uddhav accused  Shinde of indulging in “anti-party activities” and said he has voluntarily given up his membership.

“In exercise of the powers vested in me as the Shivsena Paksha Pramukha, I remove you from the post of Shiv Sena Leader in the party organisation,” the letter signed by Uddhav Thackeray said.

The Shiv Sena has all along been insisting that at a meeting held in the run-up to the Lok Sabha polls between Uddhav and Shah on February 18, 2019, the two parties had agreed on a “50:50” seat-sharing and holding the Chief Minister’s post on a rotational basis.

However, after the 2019 Assembly polls, the Sena broke its alliance with its saffron alliance partner after the BJP went back  on its promise of sharing the CM’s post and teamed up with the NCP and the Congress to form the MVA Government in the State on November 26, 2019.

“I am really unhappy with the way BJP conducted itself with me. It (BJP) stabbed me in the back. Had it fulfilled the promise made to the Shiv Sena, the BJP would have had its Chief Minister for two and half years at least. Now the BJP cannot have its Chief Minister for a full five years. Tell me how happy the BJP and its voters are by the party leadership’s decision now,” Uddhav asked.

Alluding to Shinde’s decision to scrap the MVA Government’s decision to locate the Mumbai Metro-III car shed project at Kanjurmarg in north-east Mumbai and shift the project back to Goregaon, Uddhav said, “I request the new Shinde Government with folded hands not to take anger against me on Mumbai. Don’t play around with the environment of Mumbai. We did not propose Kanjurmarg as the location for the Mumbai Metro-III project to satiate our ego. We did it for the sake of Mumbai. My sincere request to you is not to shift the project back to Goregaon. It will cause immense ecological damage to the city of Mumbai.”

Soon after taking over as the CM of the Sena-led MVA Government, Uddhav on November 29, 2019, stayed the work on the construction of a car shed for Metro Phase-III at Aarey Colony in the wake of Shiv Sena-supported protests.

The Uddhav dispensation announced then that the proposed car shed for the  Metro Phase-III project would now be located at Kanjurmarg in north-east Mumbai to save forests at Aarey Colony at Goregaon in north Mumbai, where the project was initially located.

Among other things, Uddhav had said his Government would not spend any money on re-locating the project at Kanjurmarg and that it would utilise the structure constructed for the car shed at Goregaon for some other purpose.

Uddhav said his Government had declared earlier 600-acre land at Aarey colony as forest area.