As Sena continues to split, rebel MP Rahul Shewale claims Uddhav had spoken to Modi for an hour in June last year regarding alliance

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Mumbai: Shiv Sena faction chief and former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray held an hour-long discussion with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi in June last year regarding a possible alliance with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), claimed rebel Sena Lok Sabha MP from Mumbai, Rahul Shewale on Tuesday.

Speaking to media persons in New Delhi after 12 of the 19 Sena Lok Sabha MPs switched their allegiance to Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s rebel camp today, Rahul Shewale further argued that Uddhav Thackeray had tried to seek an alliance with the BJP following the revolt of Sena MLAs last month. However, Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut continuing truck with the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition parties, Sharad Pawar-led Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Congress, as well as the past resentment in the Sena’s dealings with the BJP leadership, frustrated all such efforts.

Shewale further remarked, “At a meeting of Sena MPs, Uddhav Thackeray himself revealed that he had had an-hour long discussion with Prime Minister Modi in June last year (during Uddhav Thackeray visit to Delhi at the time of the Covid-19 second wave) regarding an alliance with BJP. However, the subsequent suspension of 12 BJP MLAs in the Maharashtra Assembly by the MVA government had soured ties the central BJP’s leadership had with the Shiv Sena.”

Incidentally, the Sena rebel MP from Mumbai South-Central who has been named as the new group leader of the party in the Lok Sabha by the rebel Eknath Shinde camp.

Arguing that Uddhav Thackeray had met the Sena MPs at least four-five times after the party MLAs revolt on June 21 last month, he said that the MPs had put forward problems faced by them in their constituencies owing to the NCP leaders.

The rebel Sena MP from Mumbai added, “In these meetings, he (Uddhav Thackeray) said he was ready for a reunion with the BJP. He further said while he had tried contacting the BJP, response was not forthcoming from their side. As a result, Uddhav Thackeray had urged us MPs to use our sources to get in touch with the BJP leadership.”

He further added that he himself had met with current Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis in this regard. However, the Sena leadership had not responded positively to the BJP’s overtures for an alliance after the 2019 Assembly election, the latter were unwilling for a reunion with Uddhav Thackeray.

Justifying the revolt of the MLAs and the Lok Sabha MPs, Rahul Shewale said that today, the rebel camp was in effect doing what Uddhav Thackeray himself had wished, the Sena’s re-alliance with the BJP. He further accused MP Sanjay Raut attending MVA meetings even as the Sena MPs were trying to broker a deal for an alliance with the BJP.

Shewale further remarked, “Because of Sanjay Raut’s hobnobbing with the NCP and Congress, a doubt crept in our minds (and the BJP leaders) that while we were trying for a Sena-BJP alliance on one hand, here he (Sanjay Raut) was busy cosying up to the NCP and the Congress and batting for their candidates in the Presidential and Vice-Presidential polls.”

Despite the BJP-Sena alliance securing the mandate following the 2019 Maharashtra Assembly election, Uddhav Thackeray had acrimoniously parted ways with the BJP over the Chief Minister’s post and had severed ties with the latter while embracing the ideologically opposed NCP and Congress to form the MVA coalition.

Meanwhile, Uddhav camp loyalist, MP Arvind Sawant mocked at Rahul Shewale’s claims, remarking that if Uddhav Thackeray was indeed eager for an alliance with the BJP as per the rebels’ version, then why did the MPs and MLAs parted ways from Uddhav Thackeray’s side.

Sawant added, “These are lies merely to mislead the public. The question only is, why these lies now? We know they (rebel faction led by Eknath Shinde) are scared of central agencies let loose upon them by the BJP at the Centre… They should not try to justify their actions. The rebels forget how the BJP harassed Uddhav Thackeray during these last two-and-a-half years.”

Earlier, before the MPs formally announced their rebellion in Delhi, Uddhav Thackeray, at a meeting with the Sena’s north Indian office bearers at the Sena Bhavan in Mumbai, lashed out at the BJP for effecting the split in the Shiv Sena.

Uddhav Thackeray remarked, “The split in the Sena was not caused by rebel MLAs but by the BJP, which is killing-off the party… The BJP is instigating a chicken fight. If one chicken dies, they will throw the other in jail.”

Referring to the ongoing fight over control of the party’s bow and arrow symbol, Uddhav Thackeray, after a meeting at the Sena Bhavan, said that while the BJP could take as many ‘arrows’ (rebel leaders) from the Sena’s quiver, the bow would always remain with him.

In another development, Eknath Shinde’s rebel camp sacked ex-Minister Aaditya Thackeray’s cousin, Varun Sardesai, as secretary of the party’s youth wing, the Yuva Sena and appointed Kiran Sali instead. The move is seen as another step to purge the party of Uddhav Thackeray’s loyalists. The Shinde faction had already announced a new national executive of the party on Monday.